vend
Americanverb (used with object)
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to sell as one's business or occupation, especially by peddling.
to vend flowers at a sidewalk stand.
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to give utterance to (opinions, ideas, etc.); publish.
verb (used without object)
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to engage in the sale of merchandise.
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to be disposed of by sale.
verb
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to sell or be sold
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to sell (goods) for a living
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rare (tr) to utter or publish (an opinion, etc)
Other Word Forms
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.
He recalled that Bob Carr once built him a concrete ramp so he could vend from one of the permanent structures.
From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 6, 2024
Il vend des copies de ses mosaïques dans les foires et les galeries, et publie des livres à compte d’auteur.
From New York Times • Feb. 12, 2023
Some vend out of necessity, to pay bills and care for their children.
From Washington Post • Feb. 7, 2023
Indigenous hop pickers also took the opportunity to vend their own goods to local Seattleites.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 16, 2022
“Money? No money was stolen. After all, there was no money to steal, for I had not been able to vend even one of these delicacies. He stole the hot dogs. “
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
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.
