regrate

¹ American  

[ri-greyt] / rɪˈgreɪt /

verb (used with object)

regrated, regrating

1. to buy up (grain, provisions, etc.) in order to sell again at a profit in or near the same market.

2. to sell again (commodities so bought); retail.

---

regrate ² American  

[ri-greyt] / rɪˈgreɪt /

verb (used with object)

regrated, regrating

1. to dress or tool (existing stonework) anew.

---

regrate British  

/ rɪˈɡreɪt /

verb

1. to buy up (commodities) in advance so as to raise their price for profitable resale

2. to resell (commodities so purchased); retail

3. building trades to redress the surface of (hewn stonework)

---

Other Word Forms

• regrater noun

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

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

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

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

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

Fail me patience and stay for engrossing care * And sorrows my      suffering soul regrate.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night — Volume 08 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir