Forms: 3–7 stor, 4 stoer, 4–5 stoor, 5 stour, stoher, 5–6 stoore, 6 stoare, stowre, Sc. stoire, stoyr, 9 dial. stoar, 6–7 stoir, 3– store. (ME. stor, aphetic f. ASTORE sb., a. OF. estor (= Pr. estor, Anglo-L. staurum, instaurum) vbl. noun f. estorer: see STORE v. (The W. ystôr, Irish stór, Gael. stòr, are from English.)]
1. a. sing. (without indef. art.) That with which a household, camp, etc., is stored; food, clothing, and other necessaries, collected for future use. Now rare. † Also furniture (of a house or building).
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8138. So þat þe cristinemen adde þer þe maistrie & tresour founde & stor inou.
13[?]. Sir Beues, 1295. Þe palmer nas nouȝt wiþouten store, Inouȝ a leide him be-fore Bred and flesc out of his male.
13[?]. Coer de L., 1656. They schyppys armes, man and stede, And stoor, her folk al with to fede.
c. 1330. Poem Evil Times Edw. II., 387, in Pol. Songs (Camden), 341. For beof ne for bakoun, ne for swich stor of house.
c. 1400. Gamelyn, 354. Who made the so bolde For to stroien my store of my housholde.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 128. Whan þou seruaunt stelyst in house mete & drynke, henne or chekyn, or oþer stoor.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 1036. Bath breid and aylle, gud wyne and othir stor.
1542–3. Act 34 & 35 Hen. VIII., c. 10 § 4. It shalbe lawfull to everye persone … to make coverlettes … for theyre owne use or store of theyre householdes.
1570. Levins, Manip., 174/16. Store of house, supellex, res familiariæ.
1581–2. Wills & Inv. Durham (Surtees), III. 91. To my wife … my farmehold in Buckton, the tower with all things belonging, and all the store upon it.
1582. in Feuillerat, Revels Q. Eliz. (1908), 356. For the hire of three cartes to remove the store of the office to Wyndesor.
1667. Milton, P. L., V. 322. Small store will serve, where store, All seasons, ripe for use hangs on the stalk.
1821. Shelley, Hellas, 556. The garrison of Patras Has store but for ten days.
fig. 1835. T. Mitchell, Acharn. of Aristoph., Introd. p. viii. in the Iliad and Odyssey … the Spartans found … ample store for cultivating that love of genealogies and antiquities, which characterised them.
† b. To keep, take to or for one’s own store: to appropriate, take possession of. Obs.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 2337. He … kepte her to his usage and his store.
c. 1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 25. Þe earle … took þe mayde to his owne store [L. suis usibus puellam applicuit].
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 239. It is other mannes riht, Which he hath taken … To kepe for his oghne Stor.
1426. Lydg., De Guil. Pilgr., 8563. Thys, the blyssyd saphyr trewe,… Kep hyt for thyn owne stoor, ffor yt saueth euery soor.
c. collective pl. Articles (such as food, clothing, arms, etc.) serving for the equipment and maintenance of an army, a ship; occas. of a household, etc. Cf. MARINE STORES.
1636. in Rymer Fœdera (1735), XX. 126. The King … granteth to John Wells, the Office of Clerk and Keeper of all his Majesty’s Stores and Storehouses at Deptford Strond, Chatham, [etc.].
1664. Act 16 Chas. II., c. 5 § 4. Whereas diverse of his Majestyes Stores and Ammunition pertaining to his Navy and Shipping or Service thereof are imbezilled and filched away.
1736. Gentl. Mag., VI. 443. Ordnance and Stores sent by his Majesty’s Order in Council, dated April 3, 1735.
1802. C. James, Milit. Dict., Stores, Military, are provisions, forage, arms, clothing, ammunition, &c.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil, V. vi. Now dark streets of frippery and old stores, now marketplaces of entrails and carrion.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 324. Stores of a vessel: the ropes, sails, provisions and other outfit with which she is supplied.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 683. The docks were full of triremes and naval stores.
1889. Mrs. Haweis, Art of Housekeeping, 92. Hints for the Storeroom. It is better to give out stores daily than weekly, and weekly than monthly.
† 2. Live stock. In later use chiefly in phrases young, old store. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2447. Bot fra þair store [v.rr. stor, stoor] bigan to sprede Þe pastur þam bigan to knede. Ibid. (c. 1375), 1517 (Fairf.). Iobal was his eldest sone stoer of fee he dalt wiþ.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prol., 598. His lordes … swyn, his hors, his stoor, and his pultrye, Was hoolly in this Reues gouernyng.
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 72. Grett herdus in the playnus Wyth muchelle tame store.
1530. Palsgr., 276/2. Store of horses, monture.
1536. Bellenden, Cron. Scot., Cosmogr. Albion, viii. (1821), I. p. xxxiii. Merchand with Cathnes lyis Sutherland, ane profitable cuntre baith for store and cornis.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Armentum, store of horse or nete. Ibid., Pecuaria, store of catell.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, I. (1895), 55. After farmes pluckyd downe, and husbandry decayed, ther is no man that passyth for the breadyng of yonge stoore [L. non sunt qui fœturam curent].
1590. R. Payne, Brief Descr. Ireland (1841), 13. Swine will not be full growen before they be two yeeres old: so the first yeere you can kill but your old store.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 49. Marr … rache in store and pastural.
a. 1688. J. Wallace, Descr. Orkney, ii. (1693), 16. Eagle[s] or Earns, and Gleds are here in plenty, and very harmfull to the young store.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 795. Four Heifars from his Female Store he took.
† 3. A body of persons. Obs.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., A. 847. And þaȝ vch day a store he feche, Among vus commez non oþer strot ne stryf.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., XII. 457. Ye ar of the old store, It semys you, Iwys.
1563. A. Neville, in B. Googe’s Eglogs (Arb.), 23. By this alone The olde renowmed Stoore OF Auncient Poets lyue.
4. Sufficient or abundant supply (of something needful). † Hence (more fully, great, good store), abundance, large number or quantity (of something whether desirable or not).
Proverb, Store is no sore, i.e., abundance does no harm.
1471. Ripley, Comp. Alch., XII. viii. in Ashm. (1652), 186. For wyse men done sey store ys no sore.
1500–30. Dunbar, Poems, xiv. 59. Sic stoir of vyce, sa mony wittis vnwyce Within this land was nevir hard nor sene.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 202. He helped forwarde that good store of forfeites and fines were gathered into the kingis treasury.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 121. They [the Danes] armed more store of chosen souldiers and entred the River of Thamise with five & thirtie Saile.
c. 1572. Gascoigne, Flowers, Wks. 1907, I. 63. Store makes no sore.
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., II. 8. Ships … are pestred … with exceeding store of mice.
1593. Hakluyt, Voy., I. 54. In certaine places thereof are some small store of trees growing, but otherwise it is altogether destitute of woods.
1612. Two Noble K., I. iii. 6. Store never hurtes good Gouernours.
1615. G. Sandys, Trav., 249. Hereabout are great store of Tarantulas: a serpent peculiar to this countrey.
1653. H. Cogan, trans. Pinto’s Trav., xxii. 79. Having first given orders to his Junks to shoot continually at the town … wheresoever they perceived any store of people assembled.
1659. Hammond, Ps. xxxviii. Annot. 206. Applying the words to his streights in general, store of which it is certain he had.
1677. Wood, Life (O.H.S.), II. 371. Great store of snow fell that day.
1705. trans. Bosman’s Guinea, 180. Plunder is their chief aim, instead of which they often get good store or blows.
1712. Motteux, 2nd Pt. Quix., xliii. (1749), IV. 62. You can’t eat your cake and have your cake; and store’s no sore.
1759. R. Brown, Compl. Farmer, 44. This kind must have great store of food.
1844. Thackeray, Box of Novels, Wks. 1899, XIII. 415. Think of all we owe Mr. Dickens,… the store of happy hours that he has made us pass.
1853. M. Arnold, Scholar Gypsy, ix. Oft thou hast given them store Of flowers.
† b. Plenty; abundance (of food or necessaries).
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 55 b. Ye common people leaving theyr daily labor, toke such things as they neded of others yt had store.
1590. Lodge, Euphues Gold. Leg., B 4 b. Riches (Saladyne) is a great royalty, & there is no sweeter phisick than store.
a. 1642. Fuller, etc. Abel Rediv., Grynaeus (1651), 536. Christ, as in life, so He in death is store. [= L. Christus ut in vita, sic quoque morte lucrum est.]
1711. Pope, Temple Fame, 450. Of loss and gain, of famine and of store.
1712. Swift, Fable Midas, 49. By starving in the Midst of Store, As t’other Midas did before.
† c. In (great, good) store: in abundance. Obs.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, VII. xxv. It was a fountaine from the liuing stone, That powred downe cleere streames, in noble store.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 137. There is no region or countrey in the world, where these are not bred in some store, as shall be declared afterwarde in the particular discourse of euery kind of Dogges.
1621. trans. Ir. Act 28 Hen. VI., c. 3. Whereas the theeues and euil doers encrease in great store.
1700. S. L., trans. Fryke’s Voy. E. Ind. 288. Goats are in good store here.
d. Used advb. or as postpositive or predicative adj. = ‘in store,’ in plenty, abundant(ly). Also good, great store. Now arch. and dial.
1569. Preston, Cambises, 858 (Manly). The poets wel, in places store, of my might doo expresse.
1577. Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist., Evagr., V. xix. 500. Then there were captiues great store, and cheape inough.
1578. T. N., In Commend. Lyte’s Dodoens. Till Rembert he, did sende additions store.
a. 1586. Sidney, Ps. XXV. xi. Behold my foes, what stoare they be.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, III. xxii. 187. Peru doth surpasse it in one thing, which is wine, for that there growes store, and good.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 24. And whereas no Saints want enuious enemies, as our Sauiour had store, and [etc.].
1619. J. Taylor (Water P.), Kicksey Winsey, B 5 b. Your stockes are poore, your Creditors are store, Which God increase, and decrease, I implore.
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, V. 170. Numbers of Mulberies, wild Oliue-trees store.
1648. Milton, Ps. lxxxviii. 9. For cloy’d with woes and trouble store Surcharg’d my Soul doth lie.
1650. B., Discolliminium, 13. We shall have as many changes as my Mare hath paces, and she hath pretty store.
1673. Ray, Journ. Low C., 5. In … Bruges, are no more than seven Parish Churches, but of Monasteries or Religious Houses … good store, 60 according to Golnitz.
1694. J. Clayton, Acc. Virginia, in Phil. Trans., XVIII. 125. Wolves there are great store.
1718. Pope, Iliad, IX. 62. Ships thou hast store.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. i. The race of yore … Told our marvelling boyhood legends store, Of their strange ventures.
1830. G. P. R. James, Darnley, iv. I. 60. There might be seen the inimitable ham of York, with manifold sides of bacon,… and cheeses store.
1855. Whitby Gloss., s.v., ‘He likes the situation good store,’ that is, very much.
5. A person’s collective possessions; accumulated goods or money. † To gather to store: to hoard up money.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 6117. He gadred vn-to store fast, Þat hys purs he fylled at þe last.
1596. Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 54. Shy. I am debating of my present store, And by the neere gesse of my memorie I cannot instantly raise vp the grosse Of full three thousand ducats.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XI. 226. Or if my store My wife had kept together.
1693. Dryden, Persius, VI. 183. Increase thy Wealth, and double all thy Store. Ibid. (1700), Ovid’s Met., VIII. Baucis & Phil., 34. Though little was their Store, Inur’d to Want, their Poverty they bore.
1753. Miss Collier, Art Torment., II. ii. If you bring no fortune to your husband, you should be as insolent as if you had increased his store by thousands.
1779. J. Newton, Olney Hymns, II. lviii. 252. I envy not the worldling’s store, If Christ and heav’n are mine.
b. transf. and fig.
1684. Dryden, To Mem. Mr. Oldham, 11. O early ripe! to thy abundant Store What could advancing Age have added more? Ibid. (1697), Virg. Georg., VII. 482. The salacious Goat encreases more; And twice as largely yields her milky Store.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 59. For him light labour spread her wholesome store.
† 6. Something precious; a treasure. Obs. (see b).
1410. in 26 Pol. Poems, ix. 181. And arraye ȝow wel þerfore To resceyue god, ȝoure soules store.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 2114. It sitteth nat a womman lyue alone; It is no stor but þei haue more þan oon.
c. 1426. Abraham’s Sacrif., 216, in Non-Cycle Myst. Plays (1909), 32. She was wont to calle me hir tresoure and hir store.
b. In various phrases with the sense ‘to value, esteem, prize; make account of’: † To tell, make, hold, set (great, little, no) store of (obs.); † to set at (much, little) store (obs.); to set (great, etc.) store by; to † put, set (great, etc.) store upon.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wife’s Prol., 203. And by my fey I tolde of it no stoor They had me yeuen hir gold and hir tresoor.
c. 1400. Beryn, 4. for hem þat hold no store Of wisdom.
1413. in 26 Pol. Poems, xii. 28. I wolde set hit at lytel store.
c. 1440. Lydg., Horse, Goose & Sheep, 440. But here this sheepe … Set litill stoor of swerd or Arwis keene.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., III. 92. Bi me he settis no store.
1525. Ld. Berners, Froiss., II. c. [xcvi.] 293. They wolde make no stoore of hym.
1540. Palsgr., Acolastus, I. i. D iv. If thou … set any store by thy helth.
1553. Brende, Q. Curtius, Q iii. If I shoulde make a little store of them, for whome I had done so muche [L. si, in quos tam magna contuleram, viliores mihi facerem].
1561. T. Hoby, trans. Castiglione’s Courtyer, IV. (1577), Y iv. Hee deserued not to haue anye more store made of him.
1569. Underdowne, Heliodorus, IV. 59. And therefore I should lose that I sette moste stoare by.
1600. W. Watson, Decacordon (1602), 159. They [the Jesuits] make no more store of a man or woman’s life,… then they do of the death of a dogge or a mouse.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 108. Those Medicines which will do the greatest Feats are least Store set by.
1768. Sterne, Sent. Journ., Starling (1778), II. 36. The bird had little or no store set by him.
1797. Mrs. A. M. Bennett, Beggar Girl (1813), III. 241. The precious metal, on which they set so high a store.
1860. Ruskin, Unto this Last, iv. § 61. Much store has been set for centuries upon the use of our English classical education.
1862. Latham, Channel Isl. III. xiv. (ed. 2), 331. Upon the Icelandic sagas many have put great store.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq. (ed. 2), I. App. 674. The reader will not be inclined to set much store by the authority of Osbern.
1895. Law Times, XCIX. 546/2. Students … though they may attend classes … do not rely on or … set much store by them.
1908. J. B. Mayor, in Expositor, July, 19. She sets more store by her own vow than by the promise of the Messiah.
† c. To stand (a person) in store: to be valuable to. Obs. ?
1463[?]. Paston Lett. (1904), IV. 65. It shuld stand me in gret stoher if it mygth be do closly and suerly.
7. A stock (of anything material or immaterial) laid up for future use. Phrase, to lay in a store.
1487–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 137. Beside this Ther is spente of your stoor, in lathes, xxiij c.
1573–80. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 53. Thresh barlie thou shalt, for chapman to malt. Else thresh no more but for thy store.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xxxvii. 8. For whether beauty, birth, or wealth or wit,… Entitled in thy parts do crowned sit, I make my love engrafted to this store.
1725. Watts, Logic (1736), 71. You … will obtain a rich Store of proper Thoughts and Arguments upon all Occasions.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist., VIII. 54. Their leaves must be gathered … and kept in a dry place, if it be necessary to lay in a store.
1808. Scott, in Lockhart, I. i. 45. My desk usually contained a store of most miscellaneous volumes.
1841. Thackeray, Gt. Hoggarty Diam., xii. All day she sat working at a little store of caps and dresses for the expected stranger.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 407. The greater part of the nourishment to the seeds being furnished by the store laid up in the plant.
1845. G. P. R. James, Arrah Neil, ii. Whenever I have an opportunity I lay in a store in my own stomach for the journey.
1875. Manning, Mission Holy Ghost, Pref. p. ix. These united would make a precious store for students and for preachers.
1881. S. P. Thompson, in Jrnl. Soc. Arts, XXX. 31/2. A piece of coal represents a store of energy. So does a bag of hydrogen gas. So does a piece of zinc.
† b. The stock of a tradesman; the tools, etc., of a workman. Obs.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vi. § 16. As if wee should iudge or construe of the store of some excellent Ieweller, by that only which is set out toward the streete in his Shoppe.
1615. E. S., Britain’s Buss, A 3. Thirdly, the particulars of her Carpenters store; and of her Stewards store.
c. collect. plural. Stocks, reserves; often in immaterial sense, treasures, accumulated resources.
1520. Coventry Leet Bk., 674. A veu was takon by the said Maier and his brethern what stores of all Maner of Corne, and what nombre of people was then within the said Cite.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., VII. 76. Lavish Nature laughs, and strows her Stores around.
1697. Potter, Antiq. Greece, IV. i. (1715), 162. To fasten to some Part of their Body the most precious of all their Stores.
1699. T. Baker, Refl. Learn., Pref. A 2 b. And then it must be done by reasons borrow’d from the Stores of Learning.
1748. Gray, Alliance, 14. Instruction on the growing Powers Of Nature idly lavishes her Stores.
1780. Mirror, No. 80. An author, who … has added to the stores of natural history the following very curious facts.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 388. Then we beheld her turn an anxious look From trunks and chests, and fix it on her book…; And then once more, on all her stores, look round.
1854. Poultry Chron., II. 65. If they can climb these glorious hills,… lay in stores of health and fresh air [etc.].
8. Storage, reserve, keeping. Now somewhat rare. Phr. to keep (young animals) for store: cf. 13 c and 9.
1487–8. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 135. Item, for mendyng of ij olde lockes with the keyes for stor.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 110. Certeine fruites … whiche they reserue for store as wee doo chestnuttes.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xi. 9. Let those whom Nature hath not made for store, Harsh featureless and rude, barrenly perish.
1625. B. Jonson, Staple of N., V. vi. The vse of things is all, and not the Store.
1638. R. Baker, trans. Balzac’s Lett. (vol. III.), 3. Base wares get no value by Store.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 515. Sulphurous and Nitrous Foame … they reduc’d To blackest grain, and into store conveyd.
1707. Mortimer, Husb., 185. Some esteem them the best Pigs to keep for Store that suck the foremost Teats.
1811. Regul. & Orders Army, 26. It is their duty to control … the Issue, and Delivery into Store, of all Articles of Camp Equipage.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 6. Two boxes of chemicals, one for use and the other for store.
b. In store: in reserve, laid up for future use. Hence (of events or conditions in the future) in store for: awaiting (a person).
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s Prol., 17. Youre termes, youre colours, and youre figures, Keepe hem in stoor, til so be that ye endite Heigh style.
c. 1421. in 26 Pol. Poems, xix. 13. Man! is þe laft no loue in store?
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 124. Wheles in store Shodd iiij pair Bare xiiij pair.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. xxxvii. 30. This yeare shalt thou eate that is kepte in stoare, & the next yeare soch as groweth of himself.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 712. For unlesse ye repent, God hath vengeaunce in store.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. x. 20. Then for her sonne … was young,… In her owne hand the crowne she kept in store, Till ryper yeares he raught.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., III. xl. 255. They alwaies kept in store a pretext, either of Justice, or Religion, [etc.].
1657. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 61. I shall be confident that Heaven hath a perticuler blessing in store for mee and for my family.
1732. Berkeley, Alciphr., VI. § 5. II. 14. I have so many objections in store, you are not to count much upon getting over one.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 306, note. It was determined … that a hundred and seventy thousand barrels of gunpowder should constantly be kept in store.
1857. Dickens, Dorrit, I. xxxv. What such surprise can be in store for me?
1874. Punch, 25 April, 180/1. Better days are in store for men and husbands.
1913. Willcock, Sir H. Vane, iv. 56. Nothing but humiliation was in store for Vane.
9. A sheep, steer, cow or pig acquired or kept for fattening. (From the attributive use 13 c., to which quot. 1620 may belong.)
1620. Inv. Wm. Toller, in Essex Rev. (1907), XVI. 206. 1 stor and a cowbullocke iijli xs.
1776. A. Young, Tour Irel. (1780), I. 45. Pigs. Bought in stores in September, at 7 s. to 20 s. each.
1812. Examiner, 7 Sept., 564/1. Fat stock rather cheaper, but stores, with the exception of pigs, still dearer.
1815. Hist. John Decastro, III. v. 62. Take my brother his rent for my farm, and you may set out in the morning to fetch the stores…—it is my positive order that no goads be used.
1844. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., V. I. 74. The practice with regard to feeding pigs … is to put up early in the spring some strong stores of twelve-months old.
1874. Ranken, Domin. Australia, xiii. 233. They then, if ‘stores,’ pass to the rich salt-bush country of Riverina.
1890. ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Col. Reformer, xx. I have to meet a man about a largish lot of stores that we’re dealing over.
1898. Morris, Austral Eng., Store, a bullock, cow, or sheep bought to be fattened for the market.
1901. Scotsman, 3 April, 7/3. Stores met a fair trade, and fat cattle brought satisfactory returns.
1911. Daily News, 1 May, 6. May is the month … when the paddock is alive with frolicsome little pigs, fast growing into ‘stores.’
† 10. Means for storing, receptacles for storage.
1497. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 123. Store for cranes & gynnes … ij chestes.
11. A place where stores are kept, a warehouse; a storehouse. Also fig.
1667. Milton, P. L., VII. 226. The golden Compasses, prepar’d In Gods Eternal store, to circumscribe This Universe.
1707. J. Logan, in Penn & Logan Corr. (1872), II. 231. We are to have a good store there to put thy goods in.
1755. Johnson.
1828–32. Webster, Store, a storehouse; a magazine, a warehouse. Nothing can be more convenient than the stores on Central wharf in Boston.
1899. Westm. Gaz., 24 Aug., 5/1. The structure was used as a military hay and fodder store.
1911. Sir H. Craik, Life Clarendon, II. xx. 159. Her naval stores and arsenals were equipped with careful industry.
12. A place where merchandise is kept for sale.
a. Chiefly U.S. and colonial. In early use, a shop on a large scale, and dealing in a great variety of articles (see quot. 1808). Now, the usual U.S. and colonial equivalent for SHOP sb. 2. Phr. to keep, tend store.
1740. Pennsylv. Gaz., 24 April, 4/2. At his store opposite the George in Arch Street. Ibid. (1752), 25 June, 4/3. Where Mr. Samuel Burge kept store.
1757. Washington, Lett., Writ. 1889, I. 490. I … beg the favor of you to choose me … as much thread as is necessary in Mr. Lewis’ Store, if he has them. If not, in Mr. Jackson’s.
1772. Boston Gaz., 23 Nov. (Thornton s.v. Tend). A Person that can tend Store, or wait on a private Gentleman.
1808. Ashe, Trav., I. 40. It [Pittsburg] possesses upward of forty retail stores. Ibid., foot-n. The common name for the places of sale in America and the colonies; differing from shops in being generally larger, and always dealing in a vast variety of articles.
1836. [Mrs. Traill], Backw. Canada, 124. A store is … nothing better than what we should call … at home a ‘general shop.’
1844. ‘J. Slick,’ High Life N. York, I. 2. They told me that he kept store away down Pearl street.
1861. Mrs. Meredith, Over the Straits, II. 41. Some tolerably good ‘stores’ (as we designate those colonial Shops-of-all-work).
a. 1872. in Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 641. He wanted to write up books, to tend store, or do anything to make an honest living.
1875. W. M‘Ilwraith, Guide to Wigtownshire, 43. Here are two or three little grocery stores.
1880. Austral. Town & Country Jrnl., 14 Feb., 314/4. This great city (of the future) is yet unbuilt, except one public-house and a store, blacksmith’s shop, and very small telegraph and post office.
1907. J. H. Patterson, Man-Eaters of Tsavo, i. 11. [Mombasa] has several excellent stores where almost anything, from a needle to an anchor, may readily be obtained.
b. In Great Britain from about 1850, the word has been current in the designation co-operative store, denoting the shop in which a co-operative trading society exposes goods for sale (originally to its own members only, but now usually also to the outside public). Now commonly in plural (‘The Stores’), applied esp. to the establishment of any of the larger London co-operative societies, which consists of a number of departments, each dealing in a separate class of goods. In imitation of this use, the plural (‘—’s Stores,’ ‘— & Co’s Stores’) is often adopted as the designation of a trading establishment resembling ‘The Stores’ in extent and in multifariousness of business.
1852. [see CO-OPERATIVE a.].
1865. Sat. Rev., 21 Jan., 79/2. The first development of the principle which obtained considerable results was the Co-operative Store.
1881. St. James’s Mag., XL. 389. Ladies of highest rank and fashion struggling through crowds of ill-clad people at the Stores.
1889. Mrs. Haweis, Art of Housekeeping, 97. These materials are bought infinitely cheaper at the Stores, than at the chemists.
Mod. I know nothing about local prices; I deal at the Stores.
pl. const. as sing. 1914. Times, 28 Aug. The head of a great stores has explained to a representative of The Times some of the difficulties with which [etc.].
13. attrib. † a. with the sense ‘of the nature of store,’ ‘hoarded up.’ Obs. rare.
a. 1626. Bacon, Advt. Holy War, Misc. Wks. (1629), 100. Of this Treasure, it is true, the Gold was Accumulate, and Store Treasure, for the most part.
1633. T. James, Voy., 57. Wee made bags of our store shirts.
b. Designating a receptacle, repository, depot or transport for stores or supplies, as store-back, -bag, -box, -cage, -cask, -cellar, -chamber, -city, -closet, -cupboard, -drawer, -loft, -place, -pond, -shed, -tent, -tub, -vat; store-boat, -craft, -sloop, -vessel, etc. Also STOREHOUSE, STORE-ROOM.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 406. Discharging the purified spirit into the *store-back.
1730. J. Southall, Treat. Buggs, 10. I open’d my *Store-Bags, took out one Piece of Beef, some Biscuits and a Bottle of Beer.
1822. J. Woods, Two Years’ Resid. Illinois, 87. He [the master of the *store-boat] had freighted his boat with store-goods and fruit, to pay his expenses down the Ohio.
1898. Daily News, 26 Aug., 5/2. These store-boats will be towed by the British gunboats to every camp which we form near the Nile.
1826. Samouelle, Direct. Collect. Insects & Crust., 68. *Store Boxes.
1677. N. Cox, Gentl. Recreat., III. 60. If you would know whether your Canary-bird be in health before you purchase him, take him out of the *Store-cage, and put him in a clean Cage alone.
1773. Gentl. Mag., XLIII. 515. Two men … attempting to go down a ladder into a large *store-cask, in order to clean it, were immediately suffocated.
1656. Act Commw. c. 19 (1658), 453. The … Store-houses, Ware-houses, *Store-cellars … of every Vintner or Retailer.
1624. in Archæologia, XLVIII. 148. In the *Storechamber.
1611. Bible, 2 Chron. viii. 6. All the *store-cities [1 Kings ix. 19 cities of store] that Solomon had, and all the charet-cities.
1825. T. Hook, Passion & Princ., v. The … key of the *store-closet.
1796. W. Vaughan, Exam., 7. Coal-barges … converted into floating *store-craft, in order to save the expense of wharfage.
1903. Kath. Tynan, Hon. Molly, xxix. 308. The *store-cupboard, the linen-closet, the china-closet.
1865. Ruskin, Sesame, i. § 36. One of the newspaper paragraphs which I am in the habit of cutting out and throwing into my *store-drawer.
1612. in Antiquary (1906), XLII. 29/1. Imprimis in the *Store lofte foure iron wedgs … and other olde iron and lumber.
1852. Hanna, Mem. Dr. Chalmers, IV. 401. An old deserted tannery whose upper storeloft, approached from without by a flight of projecting wooden stairs, was selected.
1507. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., I. 223/1. Al and sindri his and tharis landis,… stedynnis, *store placis, grangis, [etc.].
1879. Ld. Coleridge, in E. H. Coleridge, Life & Corr. (1904), II. 238. To treat it [a chapel] as a store-place for tools and ladders.
1708. Lond. Gaz., No. 4453/3. Large *Store-ponds, and Sun-ponds for making of Brine.
1879. E. J. Castle, Law of Rating, 76. They were rateable for a *store-shed.
1776. Mickle, trans. Camoens’ Lusiad, Introd. p. xl. Here the *store-sloop, now of no farther service, was burnt by order of the admiral.
1870. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 592. A *store-tent where most of the Iron Barkers bought their groceries.
1845. G. Dodd, Brit. Manuf., IV. 127. The paint … is conveyed into *store-tubs.
1826. Vintner’s, Brewer’s, etc. Guide, 122. *Store vats … for keeping beer till wanted for sale.
1791. Smeaton, Edystone L., § 85. To moor a *store-vessel in the neighbourhood of the rocks.
c. Designating animals kept for breeding or as part of the ordinary stock of a farm, also animals bought lean to be fattened; as store beast, bullock, cattle, cow, pig, sheep, sow, stock, swine; store-farm, a farm on which cattle are reared, a stock farm; also store-farmer, -farming, -master.
1602. Inv., in Collect. Archæol. (1863), II. 111. One sow and ij store pigges.
1681. Flavel, Meth. Grace, xi. 245. ’Tis better like store-cattle to be kept lean and hungry, than with the fatted ox to tumble in flowery meadows.
1683. Lond. Gaz., No. 1872/4. Ten Scotch Store-Bullocks.
1733. W. Ellis, Chiltern & Vale Farm., 353. If they are eat off with Store-sheep.
1764. in Morison’s Dict. Decis. (1806), XXXIII. 14512. The said William Porteous, and others, store-masters and tenants in the parishes of Lesmahago, [etc.].
1772. Ann. Reg., 110/1. The mortality has been as great in most of the other store-farms.
1787. Winter, Syst. Husb., 227. Stale meat … should be cleared out, and given to store swine.
1801. Farmer’s Mag., April, 220. The sheep-graziers or store masters, who occupy much of the higher parts of the country.
1808. Forsyth, Beauties Scotl., V. 271. The store-farmer, who rears the sheep.
1815. Hist. John Decastro, III. v. 63. A journey of forty miles to bring home a lot of store beasts to take place of the fat lot which had been just sold.
1822. W. J. Napier (title), A Treatise on Practical Store-Farming.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Store, applied to a domestic animal, especially to a sow, means one kept for breeding. ‘A store sow.’
1844. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 71. The store-sheep in Scotland—that is, the ewe-hoggs—are always fed as fully as the wether-hoggs which are intended to be fattened.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Store-master, the tenant of a store farm, that is, a sheep walk in Scotland.
1885. Mrs. C. Praed, Head Station, xvii. I. 283. Oh, we are not fit for anything but store-cattle, we are all blady grass and brigalow scrub.
1901. Scotsman, 3 April, 7/3. 191 fat cattle, 486 store cattle, 76 fat sheep, 120 store sheep.
d. U.S. and colonial. In sense ‘of or belonging to a store or shop,’ as store-book, -boy, -girl, -rent; ‘purchased or purchasable at a store,’ as store boots, clothes, goods, shirts, sugar, tea; store pay (see quot. 1848). Also STOREKEEPER.
1741. P. Tailfer, etc. Narr. Georgia, 29. And we may safely affirm (and appeal to the Store-Books for the Truth of it) that [etc.].
1800. Publ. Acts U.S. 6th Congr. 1. c. 57 § 1. The expense of the navy store at Philadelphia, comprising storekeeper’s salary, clerk hire, store rent [etc.].
1822. J. Woods, Two Years’ Resid. Illinois, 75. There were twelve tons of store-goods [on board].
1840. M. F. Maury, in Diana F. M. Corbin, Life (1888), 33. A shop-boy, or as we say in the West, a store-boy.
1848. Bartlett, Dict. Amer., App. 411. Store pay, payment made for produce or other articles purchased, by goods from a store, instead of cash. Ibid. (1859), (ed. 2), 453. Store clothes, store goods, clothing or other articles purchased at a store, as opposed to those which are home made.
1872. Schele de Vere, Americanisms, 206. Store-sugar, or sugar made from the cane. Ibid., 395. It was soon discovered that store-tea was all over the interior of the country the name for genuine tea.
1876. Besant & Rice, Golden Butterfly, III. i. 14. Lookin’ like a senator in a stove-pipe hat, store boots, and go-to-meetin’ coat.
1891. Century Dict., s.v., Store teeth (humorously used for false teeth).
c. pertaining to ‘the Stores’ (see 12 b), as store price.
1889. Mrs. Haweis, Art Housekeeping, 115. The calculation is based on the prices of the best London tradesmen [etc.]…. West-end dairyman, fruiterer, greengrocer, and fishmonger; baker and grocer (Store prices).
