shop

[ shop ]

/ ʃɒp /

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.)

QUIZZES

HEED THE VOX POPULI, AND TAKE THIS WORD OF THE DAY QUIZ!

Test your memory on these verbal firecrackers from the week of June 29 to July 5!

Question 1 of 7

anchorite

a granular metamorphic rock.

a person who has retired to a solitary place for a life of religious seclusion.

a hobble or fetter for a horse or other animal.

TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT

Idioms for 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

shooting star, shooting stick, shooting war, shootist, shootout, shop, shop around, shop assistant, shop floor, shop right, shop steward

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for shop

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
Because the shop was emblematic of that peculiar Italian institution known as La Faccia: i.e. presenting the best face possible.
The Bookstore That Bewitched Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Greta Garbo|Felice Picano|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

With this sophisticated tone set, the shop opened and developed a clientele.
The Bookstore That Bewitched Mick Jagger, John Lennon, and Greta Garbo|Felice Picano|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Eliza Doolittle's ambition is to become fitted for the functions of a young lady in a florist's shop.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, April 22, 1914|Various
There is not a single bookseller's shop, however, in either eastern or western Africa.
Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa|David Livingstone
That was the question that faced the oldest Corner House girl as she turned away from the door of the little cobbler's shop.
The Corner House Girls at School|Grace Brooks Hill
His shop contains odd curios as well as the usual traffic of a cobbler.
Pipefuls|Christopher Morley
He long afterwards discovered in a shoemaker's shop a panel of the head which belonged to the torso.
Leonardo da Vinci|Maurice W. Brockwell

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

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

MEANINGS

WORD GAMES

LEARN

WRITING

WORD OF THE DAY

shop

noun

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