regrate
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to buy up (grain, provisions, etc.) in order to sell again at a profit in or near the same market.
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to sell again (commodities so bought); retail.
verb (used with object)
verb
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to buy up (commodities) in advance so as to raise their price for profitable resale
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to resell (commodities so purchased); retail
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building trades to redress the surface of (hewn stonework)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of regrate1
1400–50; late Middle English regraten < Old French regrater, perhaps equivalent to re- re- + grater to scrape ( see grate 2)
Origin of regrate2
1720–30; < French regratter, equivalent to re- re- + gratter to grate 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
To regrate was to buy up in the market and sell again in the same market at an advanced price.
From The History of London by Besant, Walter, Sir
Such corners, if completely successful, would have the public at their mercy; luckily they rarely are; the difficulty, in fact, begins when you begin to regrate.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
And in the xvj day of March the kyng ordeyned that no man schulde gon ought of the citee of London be water no be londe to regrate ony Hoc Ao concessit civib’ Londo’.vitaile.
From A Chronicle of London from 1089 to 1483 Written in the Fifteenth Century, and for the First Time Printed from MSS. in the British Museum by Nicolas, Nicholas Harris, Sir
The certantie understand, the said Maister George tooke his leave of Kyle, and that with the regrate of many.
From The Works of John Knox, Vol. 1 (of 6) by Laing, David
No one may forestall or regrate, that is, buy at one price and sell at a higher price in the same locale.
From Our Legal Heritage June 2011 (Sixth) Edition by Reilly, S. A.
We regrated that the prettiest machine of all was broken; wheir was to be sein wtin a little bounds above 300 spouts sending furth water and that in sundry formes.
From Publications of the Scottish History Society, Volume 36 Journals of Sir John Lauder Lord Fountainhall with His Observations on Public Affairs and Other Memoranda 1665-1676 by Fountainhall, John Lauder, Lord
Milk universally forestalled and regrated in American markets.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
Fish, destruction of to enhance price made criminal in 1357; universally regrated in American markets; may not be carried out of England.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
Leiter's Chicago corner in wheat, Sully's corner in cotton, were almost perfect examples of engrossing, but failed when the regrating began.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
Now forestalling, regrating, and engrossing are the early English phrases for most of the unlawful or unmoral actions which we ascribe to the modern trust.
From Popular Law-making by Stimson, Frederic Jesup
The mediæval economist believed in the externality of relations; he prosecuted for the offenses of forestalling and regrating the man who would make a profit by merely changing things in place.
From Creative Intelligence Essays in the Pragmatic Attitude by Bode, Boyd H.
In the towns there was an outcry against corn merchants, who were guilty of forestalling and regrating.
From William Pitt and the Great War by Rose, John Holland
They had, moreover, taken bribes for concealment of offences of forestalling and regrating.
From London and the Kingdom - Volume I by Sharpe, Reginald R. (Reginald Robinson)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
