shop

[shop]

noun

1. a retail store, especially a small one.

2. a small store or department in a large store selling a specific or select type of goods.

   the ski shop at Smith's.

3. the workshop of a craftsperson or artisan.

4. the workshop of a person who works in a manual trade; place for doing specific, skilled manual work.

   a carpenter's shop.

5. any factory, office, or business.

   Our ad agency is a well-run shop.

6. Education.

   1. a course of instruction in a trade, as carpentry, printing, etc., consisting chiefly of training in the use of its tools and materials.

   2. a classroom in which such a course is given.

7. one's trade, profession, or business as a subject of conversation or preoccupation.

verb (used without object)

shopped, shopping 

1. to visit shops and stores for purchasing or examining goods.

2. to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale.

   Retail merchants often stock their stores by shopping in New York.

3. to seek a bargain, investment, service, etc. (usually followed byfor ).

   I'm shopping for a safe investment that pays good interest.

verb (used with object)

shopped, shopping 

1. to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale in or by.

   She's shopping the shoe stores this afternoon.

2. Chiefly British Informal.

   1. to put into prison; jail.

   2. to behave treacherously toward; inform on; betray.

3. Slang.,  to try to sell (merchandise or a project) in an attempt to obtain an order or contract.

interjection

1. (used in a store, shop, etc., in calling an employee to wait on a customer.)

shop

/ ʃɒp /

noun

1. a place, esp a small building, for the retail sale of goods and services

2. an act or instance of shopping, esp household shopping

   the weekly shop

3. a place for the performance of a specified type of work; workshop

4. informal

   1. in disarray

      his papers were all over the shop

   2. in every direction

      I've searched for it all over the shop

5. 1. to close business at the end of the day or permanently

   2. to become defensive or inactive

6. to speak about one's work, esp when meeting socially, sometimes with the effect of excluding those not similarly employed

verb

1. to visit a shop or shops in search of (goods) with the intention of buying them

2. slang,  (tr) to inform on or betray, esp to the police

Other Word Forms

• intershop adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of shop¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English shoppe (noun), Old English sceoppa “booth”; akin to scypen “stall” ( shippon ), German Schopf “lean-to,” Schuppen “shed”

Word History and Origins

Origin of shop¹

Old English sceoppa stall, booth; related to Old High German scopf shed, Middle Dutch schoppe stall

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. set up shop, to go into business; begin business operations.

   to set up shop as a taxidermist.

2. talk shop, to discuss one's trade, profession, or business.

   After dinner we all sat around the table and talked shop.

3. shut up shop,

   1. to close a business temporarily, as at the end of the day.

   2. to suspend business operations permanently.

      They couldn't make a go of it and had to shut up shop.

More idioms and phrases containing shop

• bull in a china shop
• close up (shop)
• set up (shop)
• shut up (shop)
• talk shop

Example Sentences

For years, AI in retail has been mostly predictive, helping forecast demand based on consumer demographics or shopping behavior.

Read more on Barron's

Just before last Christmas, SemiAnalysis, an influential tech research shop, published a long, technically complex article comparing AMD’s newest AI chips unfavorably to Nvidia’s.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Customers shopped not only because the $7,500 tax credit was expiring but because they feared there would soon be less choice and fewer EVs to buy.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

A crowd of about 50 supporters and curious locals meet the candidate at Donkey’s Place, a venerable deli that serves a meatier cheesesteak than more-famous shops in nearby Philadelphia.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Amazon’s Prime membership, the largest paid subscription program in the world with at least 200 million users, has helped the company become an integral part of consumers’ shopping habits.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• boutique 
• chain 
• deli 
• department store 
• emporium 
• market 
• mill 
• outlet 
• showroom 
• stand 
• store 
• supermarket