vend

American  

[vend] / vɛnd /

verb (used with object)

1. to sell as one's business or occupation, especially by peddling.

   to vend flowers at a sidewalk stand.

2. to give utterance to (opinions, ideas, etc.); publish.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to engage in the sale of merchandise.

2. to be disposed of by sale.

vend British  

/ vɛnˈdɪʃən, vɛnd /

verb

1. to sell or be sold

2. to sell (goods) for a living

3. rare (tr) to utter or publish (an opinion, etc)

---

Other Word Forms

• revend verb (used with object)
• unvendable adjective
• unvended adjective
• vendable adjective
• vendition noun

Etymology

Origin of vend

1610–20; < Latin vendere to sell, contraction of vēnum (or vēnō ) dare to offer for sale; 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

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

Indigenous hop pickers also took the opportunity to vend their own goods to local Seattleites.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 16, 2022

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

“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