shop

[ shop ]

/ ʃɒp /

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See synonyms for: shop / shopping on Thesaurus.com

noun

a retail store, especially a small one.

a small store or department in a large store selling a specific or select type of goods: the ski shop at Smith's.

the workshop of a craftsperson or artisan.

the workshop of a person who works in a manual trade; place for doing specific, skilled manual work: a carpenter's shop.

any factory, office, or business: Our ad agency is a well-run shop.

Education.

a course of instruction in a trade, as carpentry, printing, etc., consisting chiefly of training in the use of its tools and materials.
a classroom in which such a course is given.

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

verb (used without object), shopped, shop·ping.

to visit shops and stores for purchasing or examining goods.

to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale: Retail merchants often stock their stores by shopping in New York.

to seek a bargain, investment, service, etc. (usually followed by for): I'm shopping for a safe investment that pays good interest.

verb (used with object), shopped, shop·ping.

to seek or examine goods, property, etc., offered for sale in or by: She's shopping the shoe stores this afternoon.

Chiefly British Informal.

to put into prison; jail.
to behave treacherously toward; inform on; betray.

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

interjection

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

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms about shop

set up shop, to go into business; begin business operations: to set up shop as a taxidermist.

shut up shop,

to close a business temporarily, as at the end of the day.
to suspend business operations permanently: They couldn't make a go of it and had to shut up shop.

talk shop, to discuss one's trade, profession, or business: After dinner we all sat around the table and talked shop.

Origin of shop

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

OTHER WORDS FROM shop

in·ter·shop, adjective

Words nearby shop

shoot the breeze, shoot the chutes, shoot the works, shoot through, shoot-up, shop, shopaholic, shop around, shop assistant, shopbot, shopcraft

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use shop in a sentence

The deal, struck in November 2019, ran into trouble after coronavirus-related lockdowns closed shops around the world and curbed international travel, hitting demand for luxury goods.
Tiffany sues LVMH after $16 billion deal collapses|Rachel King|September 9, 2020|Fortune
When two restaurants and a small retail shop all closed within a year of one another, my weekend sales dropped approximately 25 percent.
Myths and Shame Shouldn’t Guide Cannabis Regulations|John Bertsch|September 8, 2020|Voice of San Diego
Previously, masks were required only on public transport, in shops, and in some school contexts.
Five days is long enough for a coronavirus quarantine, says Germany’s top virologist|David Meyer|September 2, 2020|Fortune
The way customers shop has drastically changed during the pandemic so we needed to make sure our benefits addressed their top concerns and that we had an offering that was ready and available to them.
Walmart’s Amazon Prime challenger is launching Sept. 15|radmarya|September 1, 2020|Fortune

Before getting this recommendation from a colleague, I was buying masks piecemeal from Etsy sellers and various shops, but I hadn’t found one that I felt fit right.
The best things I bought in August|Rachel Schallom|August 30, 2020|Fortune
Finding the shop is a trip in itself and an introduction to a slice of history.
The Photographer Who Gave Up Manhattan for Marrakech|Liza Foreman|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
I suspect [Teresa] will get money sent in to her, so she can shop at the commissary.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The rapid rise of the sharing economy is changing the way people around the world commute, shop, vacation, and borrow.
Why Do ‘Progressives’ Want to Ban Uber and AirBnB?|Adam Thierer, Christopher Koopman|December 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I remember being appalled that he killed off Little Nell in The Old Curiosity Shop.
How Dickens and Scrooge Saved Christmas|Clive Irving|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
They were getting more imaginative,” a pawn shop owner thinks of his addict customers in “Back of Beyond.
This Week’s Hot Reads: December 22, 2014|Mythili Rao|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But at the instant I caught a sight of my counterfeit presentment in a shop window, and veiled my haughty crest.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
Then a fat, untidy old man appeared in the doorway of a cubicle within the shop, and Edwin Clayhanger blushed.
Hilda Lessways|Arnold Bennett
She wore a little red hood, and looked wistfully after Davy as the shop went out of sight.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
Robin Hood stared at him for a moment with a puzzled expression, and then walked into his little shop, and Davy turned away.
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
His Shop is the Randenvous of spitting, where men dialogue with their noses, and their conversation is smoke.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.

British Dictionary definitions for shop

shop

/ (ʃɒp) /

noun

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

an act or instance of shopping, esp household shoppingthe weekly shop

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

all over the shop informal

in disarrayhis papers were all over the shop
in every directionI've searched for it all over the shop

shut up shop

to close business at the end of the day or permanently
to become defensive or inactive

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

verb shops, shopping or shopped

(intr often foll by for) to visit a shop or shops in search of (goods) with the intention of buying them

(tr) slang, mainly British to inform on or betray, esp to the police

Word Origin for shop

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Idioms and Phrases with shop

shop

In addition to the idiom beginning with shop

shop around

also see:

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

shop

Idioms about shop

Origin of shop

OTHER WORDS FROM shop

Words nearby shop

Words related to shop

How to use shop in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for shop

Word Origin for shop

Other Idioms and Phrases with shop