were bartering

• past progressive

  past progressive

  Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.

  of barter.
  barter

  verb (used without object)

  to trade by exchange of commodities rather than by the use of money.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

were bartering

Even before then, merchants in the Massachusetts Bay Colony had enslaved Native Americans, and by 1638 were bartering them for Africans in the West Indies.

From New York Times ● Feb. 21, 2019

While we were bartering for cinnamon, men from two towns of that island came to us, and asked to be received as subjects and tributaries of your Majesty.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803 — Volume 03 of 55 1569-1576 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of the Catholic Missions, as Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Beginning of the Nineteenth Century by Blair, Emma Helen

So I had to join the crowd who were bartering, exchanging and renting uniforms.

From Conscript 2989 Experiences of a Drafted Man by Crump, Irving

Subienkow played his game as coolly as if he were bartering for a foxskin.

From Lost Face by London, Jack

Related Words

• haggle