vend
Americanverb (used with object)
-
vends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
vended,
past participle, past
-
vending
present participle
-
to sell as one's business or occupation, especially by peddling.
to vend flowers at a sidewalk stand.
-
to give utterance to (opinions, ideas, etc.); publish.
verb (used without object)
-
vends,
present (3rd person singular)
-
vended,
past participle, past
-
vending
present participle
-
to engage in the sale of merchandise.
-
to be disposed of by sale.
verb
-
to sell or be sold
-
to sell (goods) for a living
-
rare (tr) to utter or publish (an opinion, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
venditionnoun
-
revendverb (used with object)
-
unvendableadjective
-
unvendedadjective
-
vendableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
vendsimple
-
vendssimple
-
have vendedperfect
-
has vendedperfect
-
am vendingprogressive
-
are vendingprogressive
-
is vendingprogressive
-
have been vendingperfect progressive
-
has been vendingperfect progressive
Past
-
vendedsimple
-
had vendedperfect
-
was vendingprogressive
-
were vendingprogressive
-
had been vendingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of vend
1610–20; < Latin vendere to sell, contraction of vēnum (or vēnō ) dare to offer for sale; see venal
Explanation
When you vend, you sell something — for example, you might have a table at a crafts fair where you vend your line of hand-knit dog clothing. Typically, the verb vend is used when the seller is on the move in some way, setting up a stall in a street fair or hawking homemade cupcakes out of a minivan at high school football games. Another way to use vend is specifically "to sell something out of a machine," like the kind you put a dollar in and get a bag of chips in return. The Latin root is vendere, "to sell."
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:
Indigenous hop pickers also took the opportunity to vend their own goods to local Seattleites.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 16, 2022
Mr. Rossi said that he argued in court that the state law overruled city regulations and allowed him to vend in areas that would otherwise be off limits.
From New York Times ● Aug. 28, 2020
With no houses to clean, no motorcycle taxis to drive and no markets to vend their wares, many face eviction and starvation.
From Time ● Apr. 7, 2020
He goes to Boyle Heights to vend Dodgers gear.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 2, 2019
“I believe that they vend foot- long hot dogs.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
Walter vends its own beer, specially brewed for the venue in the village of Gijzegem.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2020
The reading matter that he vends is stuff that an easygoing, careless public will not hasten to put aside voluntarily.
From Time Magazine Archive
He vends excellent objects d'art undismayed before gargantuan plutocrats, penetrating their purses vastly, simply with the device of perfumed cigarettes, voluptuous oriental divans, scientific lighting, cutaway coat, and hauteur.
From Time Magazine Archive
"You shall not do so, madam," said Janet; "who shall answer that this fellow vends what is wholesome?"
From Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
Ay, and how should he who traffics with his beauty love the purchaser, any more than he who keeps a stall in the market-place and vends to the highest bidder?
From The Symposium by Henry Graham Dakyns
Since moving back to L.A. in 2014, Wang has vended at local farmers markets, hosted Chinese cooking demos at public libraries and helped staff Filipino restaurant Lasita, a crown jewel of Chinatown’s Far East Plaza.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Tokens are required at the bar, annoyingly vended by machines.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 27, 2020
A snack bar vended an array of imported soft drinks, including a range of Coca-Cola products with Vietnamese packaging.
From New York Times ● Feb. 14, 2019
In Philadelphia, No. i Guggenheim vended various things, but first began making large profits through shoe-polish and glue.
From Time Magazine Archive
He had a habit of reading the books he vended.
From Shining Ferry by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
However, the fastener-and-tool distributor spent more on property and equipment in the quarter than it did a year earlier, with investments in facility construction and upgrades, industrial vending equipment and information technology.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
In Nairobi and other major towns, migrants from the region can be found working in barber shops and salons, construction, operating motorbike taxis and street vending, as well as selling clothes, food and household goods.
From BBC ● Sep. 3, 2026
Also included is a proposal to create special vending zones in L.A.’s vending corridors, although the plan doesn’t outline where such opt-in zones could be.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
“God may or may not grant you what you request. Otherwise, it’s not a god. It’s a vending machine.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
They’d be in the cafetorium in the dark with the wind roaring outside, but safe, uninjured, with their bellies full from raiding the coolers and vending machines.
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
