trade

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the skilled practice of a practical occupation

   I learned my trade through an apprenticeship.

2. 2
   noun

   the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services

   Venice was an important center of trade with the East

3. 3
   noun

   steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the equator

   they rode the trade winds going west

4. 4
   verb

   turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase

   trade in an old car for a new one

5. 5
   verb

   be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions

   The stock traded around $20 a share

6. 6
   noun

   A particular instance of buying or selling, or a series of related transactions executed as a single investment.

   I did no trades with them once the rumors started.

7. 7
   noun

   An idea or strategy for an investment on a market.

   "Sell America" is the latest trade on Wall Street.

8. 8
   noun

   An instance of bartering items in exchange for one another.

   EXCHANGE — A trade or swap of no material profit to either side.

Etymology

From Middle English trade (“path, course of conduct”), introduced into English by Hanseatic merchants, from Middle Low German trade (“track, course”), from Old Saxon trada (“spoor, track”), from Proto-West Germanic *tradu, from Proto-Germanic *tradō (“track, way”), and cognate with Old English tredan (“to tread”); ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dreh₂- (“to tread, walk, step, run”). Cognate with Dutch trade, tra (“path, trail, course, trade”), German Low German Traad (“track, wagon trail”), Luxembourgish Tratt (“step, pace”), Icelandic tröð (“a lane between fences, enclosure, pen”).