Forms: 4–6 Sc., 7 trad, 4–7 Sc. traid, (5 tradde, 6 traude, trawde, thrade), 7 traide, 5 Sc., 6– trade. [a. MLG. trade (trâ) fem., track (Schiller & Lubben), LG. trade (traan:—traden) track (Bremisch. Wbch.); also WFlem. tra (:—trade) walk, march, course (De Bo):—OS. trada str. fem. footstep, track = OHG. trata, MHG. trate, trat str. fem. footstep, trace, track, way, passage, f. WGer. ablaut-series tred-, trad- to TREAD. App. introduced into Eng. in 14th c. from Hanseatic MLG., perh. orig. in nautical lang. for the ‘course or track’ of a ship; afterwards used in other senses of ME. trede TREAD. Cf. also Norw. and Sw. dial. trad (Rietz) in similar senses, and see TROD.
In Branch I, senses 1–4 run more or less parallel with the early senses of TREAD sb.; in sense 5 differentiation begins, and in branch II the sense-development of trade, from c. 1550, turns sharply away from that of tread, which retains its close connection with TREAD v. But in Sc., tred continued to represent both trade and tread: see under TREAD.]
I. † 1. A course, way, path; with possessive or of, the course trodden by a person, or followed by a ship, etc.; = TREAD sb. 3. Common trade, a public thoroughfare. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxviii. (Adrian), 629. Sir adryane … bad þame … To þe richt hand þe stere set, & dresse þame to hald þare trad In-to þe sey as þai first had.
c. 1400. Sc. Trojan War, II. 1725. Dryvand thiddir … and hiddir, That þai mycht hald no certane traid.
c. 1425. Wyntoun, Cron., VII. x. 3266. The king … tuke þe se hamewartis his way, Haldand þare traid fast by Orknay.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 587. A postern … there was, A common trade to passe through Priams house.
1552. Huloet, Trade, via.
1554. Admiralty Crt., Exam., 9. 28 Nov. The porte of Groyne standithe and is furthe of the right course and trade towards Cadix. Ibid. (1561), Exam., 13. 1 April. If the said pilott bad followid the trade and course of thother Hamboroughe shippe. Ibid. (1564), Libels, 35, No. 160. They feared their shippe woulde strike oon grownde yf he kepte that trade.
† b. fig. Cf. TREAD sb. 3 b. Obs.
1536. Starkey, Lett. to Cromwell, 24 July, in England (1878), p. xliii. You juge me more to be traynyd in phylosophye than in the trade of scripture.
1538. Bale, God’s Promises, II. The covenaunt, whych I to Adam made, He regardeth not, but walketh a damnable trade.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 98. I trust that you … haue so … noted the nature of it, that you can teache me as it were by a trade or waye how to come to it.
1547. Homilies, I. Serm. Gd. Works, III. (1859), 64. The right trade and pathway unto heaven.
1549. Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. Eph. vi. 13 b. You shall not be lyke to the common trade of seruauntes.
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., V. i. 36. Cromwell … Stands in the gap and Trade of moe Preferments.
† 2. The track or trail of a man or beast; foot-prints; = TREAD sb. 1, 2. Obs.
13[?]. Guy Warw. (Caius), 4731. Than loked he aboute vnder the wode shawe: The trade of horse [Auch. hors traces] he there sighe.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, V. 136. For thair sloith hund the graith gait till him ȝeid, Off othir trade [ed. 1570 tred] scho tuk as than no heid.
1537. St. Papers Hen. VIII., V. 97. Diverse of his tenauntes pursewed the trade with a slott hownd.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. vi. 39. As Shepheardes curre, that … Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade. Ibid. (1591), Tears Muses, 275. The sacred springs … They trampled haue with their fowle footings trade.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 21. The dog … seases not afor he find the trad of the fliaris.
† b. transf. The outer surface of the rim of a wheel, which makes the track or mark on the ground; the TREAD of a wheel. Obs. rare–0.
1556. Withals, Dict. (1568), 18 b/1. Orbita rotunditas, a whele trade. Ibid. The vtter parte of the whele, called the trade, orbis.
† 3. Course, way, or manner of life; course of action; mode of procedure, method. Obs. or dial.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law Arms (S.T.S.), 211. It war nocht lyke that thai folowit the trade of oure lord, quhilk in all his accioun was oure instructioun.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 2. Kyng Richarde … was nowe brought to that trade of liuyng that [etc.].
1549–62. Sternhold & H., Ps. CXIX. v. i. Instruct me Lord, in the right trade Of thy statutes diuine.
1560. Bible (Genev.), Prov. xxii. 6. Teache a childe in the trade of his way, and when he is olde, he shal not departe from it.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 77. The Cat … is in hir trade and manner of liuing, very shamefast.
1571. Calr. Carew MSS., I. 410. Surety to leave their wicked thrade of life, and to fall to other occupation.
1633. Bp. Hall, Hard Texts, N. T., 176. In respect of the trade and course of their life.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem., I. lii. 393. Commonly this was the trade: the better benefice, and the cure the more, the seldomer was the Parson or Vicar resident at home.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, s.v., If this is to be the trade.
† b. A way or method of attaining an end; a contrivance, expedient. Obs. rare.
1572. J. Jones, Bathes of Bath, To Rdr. 1. The arte or trade of maintaining health. Ibid., Ep. Ded. 3. But also the Chyrurgians … may fynde a most apte trade of vnderstanding comprehended in few wordes.
1576. Fleming, Caius’ Dogs (1880), 17. The water Spaniell,… hauing long, rough, and curled heare, not obtayned by extraordinary trades, but giuen by natures appointment.
c. A regular or habitual course of action; a practice or habit of doing something. Obs. exc. dial.
c. 1586. C’tess Pembroke, Ps. LIX. i. Save me from those Who make a trade of cursed wrong.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., III. i. 148. Thy sinn’s not accidentall, but a Trade. Ibid. (1608), Per., IV. vi. 74. Now prittie one, how long haue you beene at this trade?
1616. R. C., Times’ Whistle, v. 1719. Now let me discourse of drunkennes, Which … is made Even a common ordinary trade.
1652. J. Wright, trans. Camus’ Nat. Paradox, VI. 134. Shee had long since forgot the Trade of running away.
a. 1716. Blackall, Wks. (1723), I. 194. I do not make a Trade and Custom of it.
1755. Man, No. 33. 4. But it now growing a trade in the family to send for aqua mirabilis, the master … forbad his servants to fetch any.
Mod. dial. He made a trade of going to their house.
† d. Used advb. in phr. to blow trade, of the wind, to blow in a regular or habitual course, or constantly in the same direction (cf. TRADE-WIND). So, of a ship, to run trade (rare). Obs.
1591–1600. J. Jane, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1600), III. 849. When we were shot in betweene the high lands [in Str. of Magellan], the wind blowing trade, without any inch of sayle, we spooned before the sea.
1670. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1694), 84. Neither do I find the Winds to blow Trade; but they are veerable.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, 447. The Winds … seemed to be more steadily against us, blowing almost Trade, as we call it, from the East, and E.N.E. [in the China Sea]. Ibid. (1720), Capt. Singleton (1906), 198. The winds generally blow trade from the S. and S.S.E. from May to September. Ibid. (1722), Col. Jack (1840), 319. We … kept our course W. by S. …, running away, trade, as they call it, into the great gulf of Mexico.
† 4. Practice; practical exercise, employment, or application. Obs.
1575. Recorde’s Gr. Artes, Pref. A v. Apt instrumentes,… if a man coulde applye them to vse, and by teaching of rules, frame them to better trade. Ibid., II. Ff j b. To acquainte your minde the better with ye new trade of this rule.
1608. A. Todkill, in Capt. Smith’s Virginia (1624), 66. The boates trimmed for trade, which … in their Iourney incountred the second Supply.
5. The practice of some occupation, business, or profession habitually carried on, esp. when practised as a means of livelihood or gain; a calling; formerly used very widely, including professions; now usually applied to a mercantile occupation and to a skilled handicraft, as distinct from a profession (PROFESSION 6 a), and spec. restricted to a skilled handicraft, as distinguished from a professional or mercantile occupation on the one hand, and from unskilled labor on the other.
In earliest use not clearly distinguishable from 3; the sense is developed by contextual additions, as trade (i.e., practice) of husbandry, of merchandise, of fishing, etc.
1546. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 757/2. Except thai be in thair lefull marchandice, traudis and bissynes concerning the wynning of thair leving.
1583. Stocker, Civ. Warres Lowe C., I. 22. Againe to sette vppe, and place the accustomed trade of merchandise.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. i. 12. Mur. But what Trade art thou? Answer me directly…. Fla. Thou art a Cobler, art thou?
1601. Act 43 Eliz., c. 2 § 1. For settinge to worke all such persons … [who] use no ordinarie or dailie trade of lief to get their livinge by.
1638. Junius, Paint. Ancients, 100. His father consulting with his kinsfolkes about the trade he should put his sonne to, thought it best to make him a statuarie.
1656. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 91. [If the boy were] to be fitted for a merchant or other trade.
1695. A. Telfair, New Confut. Sadd. (1696), 1. Mackie … who is a Mason [note Stonecutter] by Trade, devoted his first Child to the Devil, at his taking of the Mason-Word.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 47, ¶ 7. A Neighbour of mine, who is a Haberdasher by Trade.
1737. Gentl. Mag., March, 189/1. Mr. Will. Potter, of Gainsborough,… By Trade a Butcher.
1798. Wordsw., Peter Bell, I. 201. A Potter, Sir, he was by trade.
1813. Sk. Character (ed. 2), I. 16. He was in trade; and … Miss Aucherly was well aware, his being in trade was an obstacle impossible to be surmounted.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xix. Old Dorothy Glover, as she was called, (for she also took name from the trade she practised).
1856. Froude, Hist. Eng., I. i. 43. No person was allowed to open a trade … unless he had first served his apprenticeship.
1860. Ld. Denman, in All Year Round, 5 May, 83. Every trade … is a business, but every business is not a trade. To answer that description, it must be conducted by buying and selling, which the business of keeping a lunatic asylum is not.
b. Anything practised for a livelihood.
1650. Baxter, Saints’ R., III. xiv. § 9. Let men see that you use not the Ministrie only for a trade to live by.
1651. in Verney Mem. (1907), I. 482. The multitude of peasants in Savoye which practise the trade of bandittis.
1653. Milton, Hirelings, Wks. 1851, V. 371. They would not then so many of them, for want of another Trade, make a Trade of thir preaching.
1659. B. Harris, Parival’s Iron Age, 141. Souldiers desire not an end of War; because they have no other Trade to live.
1693. J. Dryden, Juvenal, XIV. 251. A Captain is a very gainful Trade.
1746. Francis, trans. Horace, Epist., II. i. 167. Unfit for War’s tumultuous Trade.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., i. Where learnedst thou so suddenly the trade of preaching?
1878. Simpson, Sch. Shaks., I. 32. Her first venture in the trade which subsequently proved so profitable to her, that of buccaneering.
6. The trade: those engaged in the particular business or industry concerned or in question; spec. the publishers and booksellers; now more commonly, those engaged in the liquor trade.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., IX. 44. A Member of the tuneful trade.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, 15 April, an. 1778, note. As Physicians are called the Faculty,… the Booksellers of London are denominated the Trade.
1837. Sir F. Palgrave, Merch. & Friar, Ded. 1. The reluctance with which the ‘trade’ engage in any work purporting to consist of ancient documents.
1868. Joynson, Metals, 63. Many thousands of tons of ‘Bessemer metal’—for the ‘trade’ are not quite sure whether it is iron or steel.
1885. Cyclist, 19 Aug., 1101/2. Interesting to Cyclists and the Trade.
1885. Liverpool Echo, 14 Nov. The Morning Advertiser,… discussing the action of ‘the Trade’ in the coming contests, takes a very moderate view.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, Lond. of To-day, xxxix. (ed. 3), 329. Some of the publishing houses of London … are as ready to sell to the general public as to ‘the trade.’
1903. Westm. Gaz., 7 March, 2/2. The House of Commons read a second time yesterday two Bills connected with ‘the trade.’ The first … was to bring home to the innkeeper his statutory liability to provide food as well as drink.
b. Any one of the corporations of craftsmen (usually seven in number) in a Scottish burgh, each of which formerly elected one or more members of the town-council.
1777. Mayne, Siller Gun, I. i. Ae Simmer’s morning, wi’ the sun The Seven Trades there Forgather’d.
1781. Set of the Burgh (of Hawick). Confirmed by Court of Session, that there presently are, and shall henceforth continue seven Incorporations within the said burgh, vizt.;—Weavers, Tailors, Hammermen, Skinners, Fleshers, Shoemakers, and Baxters, each of which shall … elect two quartermasters for each trade, to continue in office for one year.
1838. W. Bell, Dict. Law Scotl., s.v. Burgh, Royal, In Edinburgh and Glasgow, the convener of trades and the dean of guild are ex-officio members of council.
1860. Cosmo Innes, in Gordon, Hist. Moray, ii. (1882), 23. Do the Bailies and the ‘Trades’ fill the eye in their fine new Church…?
II. 7. a. lit. Passage to and fro; coming and going; resort. Now dial.
1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. v. 133. Some [fish] from the Sea … So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting.
1593. Shaks., Rich. II., III. iii. 156. Ile be buryed in the Kings high-way, Some way of common Trade, where Subjects feet May howrely trample on their Soueraignes Head.
1624. Donne, Devot. (ed. 2), 154. In Jacobs ladder, they which ascended and descended, and maintained the trade between heaven and earth.
1868. Atkinson, Cleveland Gloss., s.v., A vast o’ rabbits here, by the trade they make.
† b. fig. Mutual communication, intercourse, ‘commerce,’ dealings. Obs.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. ii. 346. Haue you any further Trade with vs?
1634. Massinger, Very Woman, IV. iii. Long was my travail, long my trade, to win her.
a. 1708. Beveridge, Thes. Theol. (1710), I. 183. Free trade and commerce for grace and goodness for heaven and happiness.
c. To-do, ‘work,’ fuss, commotion; trouble, difficulty. dial.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., s.v., They make such a trade wi’ me when I goo to see ’em.
1895. Westm. Gaz., 21 Sept., 2/1. What there was in him to make such a trade of, as his wife did, I could not see.
1899. Leeds Merc., Supp., 3 June (E.D.D.). They’ll hae plenty o’ trade on afore they mak’ t’ business pay.
8. Passage or resort for the purpose of commerce; hence, the buying and selling or exchange of commodities for profit; commerce, traffic, trading. † To beat the trade, to carry on business (obs.). See also FREE TRADE.
1555. Eden, Decades, 240. The trade of spices which was so commodious and profitable to hym.
1570. J. Campion, in Hakluyt, Voy. (1599), II. 114. A safe conduct from the great Turke, for a trade to Chio.
1604. Ho. Comm. Jrnl., I. 218/2. The Mass of the whole Trade of all the Realm is in the Hands of some Two Hundred Persons.
1611. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 171/1. Cum privilegio aque de Clyde, mercature lie trafficque et trade ejusdem.
1670. R. Coke, Disc. Trade, 1. Trade is an Art of Getting, Preparing, and Exchanging things Commodious for Humane Necessities and Convenience.
a. 1687. Petty, Pol. Anat. (1691), 34. Ann. 1664 … was the best year of Trade that hath been these many years in Ireland.
a. 1692. Pollexfen, Disc. Trade (1697), 91. The Trade to Swedeland and Denmark having of late Years carried from us great Sums of Money Annually.
1707. Hearne, Collect., 12 Nov. (O.H.S.), II. 72. Dr. Davenant … has writ … an Essay upon Ballance of Trade.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., ii. Contraband trade … is not usually looked upon, either by the vulgar or by their betters, in a very heinous point of view.
1835. Penny Cycl., III. 309/1. The balance of trade … is the difference between the aggregate amount of a nation’s exports or imports, or the balance of the particular account of the nation’s trade with another nation.
1889. Nature, 19 Sept., 492/2. The struggle for the Eastern trade.
† b. A trading expedition. Obs. rare–1.
1725. De Foe, Voy. round World (1840), 356. This new scheme of a trade round the World.
† c. A center of trade, an emporium. Obs. rare–1.
1618. in Foster, Eng. Factories Ind. (1906), I. 27. Surratt will never be a trade unles the Red Sea both supply yt and awe the Guzeratts.
9. With a and pl. An act of trading, a transaction, a bargain; spec. in politics, a private arrangement, a ‘deal’ or ‘job.’ Orig. U.S. slang.
1829. Massachusetts Spy, 18 March (Thornton). When the business was completed, there was about an even trade between Mr. A. and Farmer G.
1835–40. Haliburton, Clockm. (1862), 347. Havin’ finished that are little trade, squire, there is another small matter I want to talk over with you.
1867. Lowell, Fitz Adam’s Story, in Heartsease & Rue (1888), 158. Yet in a bargain he was all men’s foe, Would yield no inch of vantage in a trade.
1888. Bryce, Amer. Commw., II. III. lxiii. 458. This is a Deal, or Trade, a treaty which terminates hostilities for the time.
† 10. A fleet of trading ships under convoy. Obs.
1747. Gentl. Mag., Nov., 519/1. The signal for the trade to make the best of their way.
1748. Anson’s Voy., I. ii. 15. This squadron,… and the trade under their convoy,… tided it down the Channel.
1803. Nelson, in Nicolas, Disp. (1845), V. 194. On my arrival at Malta I ordered the Cyclops to proceed with the Trade from thence bound into the Adriatic.
11. Stuff, goods, materials, commodities; now dial., usually in depreciatory use: rubbish, trash; in quot. 1697, implements, equipment.
1645. T. Wilson (title), Childe’s Trade; or the Beginning of the Doctrine of Christ, whereby Babes may have Milk, Children Bread Broken.
1670. Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1694), 27. These Herbs … for want of which fresh Trade several of my Men were falling into [the Scurvy]. Ibid., 58. Green Pease-leaves and such trade.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 535. His house, and household gods, his trade of war, His bow and quiver, and his trusty cur.
1707. Mortimer, Husb. (1721), II. 177. They are sown at two Seasons of the Year; in the Spring with other like Kitchen Trade.
1777. Horæ Subs., 438 (E.D.D.). I took some trade, which I had of the doctor for my disorder.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Trade,… a Derbyshire mining term for refuse or rubbish from a mine.
1875. Sussex Gloss., Trade, anything to carry; such as a bag, a dinner-basket, tools or shop-goods.
1889. Farmer, Americanisms, s.v., Medicine is also strangely named trade in Rhode Island.
12. Commodities for use in bartering with savages; also, native produce for barter.
1847. J. Palmer, Jrnl., 127. The value of fourteen dollars in trade would buy an ordinary horse.
1883. Chester, in Lovett, J. Chalmers, vii. 239. About £50 worth of trade was distributed to the heads of families.
1884. Pall Mall Budget, 22 Aug., 9/1. One of these boats has on board the ‘trade,’ as we call the goods by which purchases are effected.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 517. Look what a lot of trade he threw away at that funeral of his wife.
13. Abbreviation of TRADE-WIND; chiefly in pl.
c. 1796. T. Twining, Trav. Amer. (1894), 14. The increasing unsteadiness of the wind denoted that we were upon the edge of the ‘Trade.’
1806. Pinckard, Notes W. Ind., I. xviii. 186. The delay … served but to augment the value of the ever-constant trades.
1853. Herschel, Pop. Lect. Sc., iv. § 19 (1873), 157. The great and permanent system of winds known as the ‘trades’ and ‘anti-trades.’
1857. C. Gribble, in Merc. Marine Mag. (1858), V. 9. From this I carried a steady Trade, all sail set.
1880. Haughton, Phys. Geog., iv. 188. The so-called north-east monsoons, are simply the usual Trades of the northern hemisphere.
1899. F. T. Bullen, Log Sea-waif, 213. As for attendance on the sails, we might have been a steamship for all the work of that kind required—‘south-east trades’ being notoriously steady and reliable in the Atlantic, while the north-east trades are often entirely wanting.
1899. ‘Martello Tower,’ At School & at Sea, 88. The trade slackened and became fitful.
III. 14. attrib. and Comb. a. attrib.: in sense 5, ‘of or pertaining to a trade or calling,’ as trade-body, -caste, -company (COMPANY sb. 6), -guild, protection, skill, -work; ‘caused by or arising out of one’s trade,’ as trade disease, eczema, eruption; in sense 8, as trade advice, bill, competition, conflict, gamble, mart, partnership, product, profit, relation, reverse, rivalry, ship, site, supply, supremacy, town, use, value, wave, word; in sense 12, ‘pertaining to or used for barter,’ as trade bag, blanket, boat, box, calico, chest, gin, glass, goods, gun, stuff; b. instrumental, objective, etc., as trade-bound, -destroying, -laden adjs.; trade-spoiler, -taxer.
1860. Reade, Cloister & H., lxxxvi. Good *trade advice was to flow from the elders.
1907. Chron. Lond. Mission. Soc., Oct., 185/1. My mackintosh served as a blanket, and my *trade-bag as a pillow.
1892. G. F. X. Griffith, trans. Fouard’s St. Peter, 268. *Trades-bodies, political assemblies, and societies for mutual aid.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 166. My back is against the *trade box, and behind that is the usual mound of pillows.
1891. E. Westermarck, Hist. Hum. Marr. (1894), 372. [In India] there is an almost endless number of *trade-castes.
1876. B. Martin, Messiah’s Kingd., VI. i. 289. The embittered *trade-conflicts which distinguish our era.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VIII. 569. A patient suffering from a *trade eczema. Ibid., 914. Affections of the Skin produced by Occupations (*Trade Eruptions).
1853. Lynch, Self-Improv., v. 122. There is much money-getting by *trade-gamble.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 664. I give an … Analysis of Sample of *Trade-Gin.
1881. J. Hatton, New Ceylon, v. 136. The voyage up, with the *trade goods, is done in a canoe.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iv. § 1. 163. A wiser instinct of government led Edward to establish *trade-guilds in the towns.
1904. W. M. Ramsay, in Expositor, July, 42. The workers in bronze were one of its numerous trade-guilds.
1873. R. F. Burton, in Lady B., Life (1893), II. 20. Those who must often expose themselves … to Anglo-Ashanti *trade-guns.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 239. A picturesque series of canoes, fruit and *trade laden.
1904. Speaker, 9 April, 31/2. A *trade-mart should be established.
1863. Fawcett, Pol. Econ., IV. vii. (1876), 626. We have to ascertain whether rates are to be regarded as a deduction from *trade-profits, or whether they are a tax imposed upon the consumers of merchandise.
1883. Chambers’s Encycl., *Trade Protection Societies are associations composed of merchants, tradesmen, and others,… for the promotion of trade, and for protecting the individual members from losses.
1897. Boston (Mass.) Jrnl., 3 Feb., 7/4. British subjects looking for friendly *trade-relations.
1874. Forster, Dickens, XI. i. (1907), 883. *Trade reverses at Glasgow had checked the success there.
1902. Q. Rev., July, 243. The bitter *trade-rivalry with France.
1757. Dyer, Fleece, II. Poems (1761), 103. The *trade-ship left his streams; the merchant shun’d His desart borders.
1872. Yeats, Growth Comm., 301. A *trade site established twenty-one years earlier.
1693. W. Freke, Art of War, iii. 24. Is your war with a *Trade-state, pen them but in, and stop their Course.
1662. R. Mathew, Unl. Alch., § 89. 156. That which is *Trade-stuff is fetcht more out of the Firr-tree, then out of the Scurff of Amber.
1888. Hasluck, Model Engin. Handybk. (1900), 10. Purchased … from the usual *trade-supplies.
1910. Encycl. Brit., VI. 789/2. Maintenance of *trade-supremacy in the eastern Mediterranean.
1903. Speaker, 26 Sept., 597/1. The two sections—the ‘food taxers’ and the *‘trade-taxers’ … can unite in office again.
1657. Owen, Commun. w. Father, etc., iii. § 3. Wks. 1850, II. 244. According to the *trade use of the word, whence the metaphor is taken.
1891. Daily News, 15 April, 2/5. No doubt the highest point in the *trade-wave has been reached and passed.
15. Special combs.: trade allowance (see quot.); trade board, a council regulating conditions of employment in certain trades; trade cumulus, the cumulus that collects in the trade-wind region in the day-time; the trade-wind cloud; trade dinner, a dinner at which representatives of a trade meet; trade dollar, a dollar issued by the U.S.A. for Asiatic trade: see DOLLAR 5; trade-edition (see quot.); trade-English, a broken English used by traders as a medium of communication with African natives, and also by natives speaking different languages; trade-fixture, a fixture put in for trade purposes (which remains the property of the tenant) (Funk’s Stand. Dict., 1895); trade-hall (see quot.); † trade-language, a language used as a means of communication by people speaking different languages; trademaster, one who instructs a class in a trade or handicraft; trade name, (a) a descriptive or fancy name used to designate some proprietary article of trade; (b) the name by which an article or substance is known to the trade; (c) the name or style under which a business is carried on; trade-officer, in a penal institution: = trade-master; trade price, the price at which the wholesale dealer sells to the retailer; trade-road, a trade-route; trade-room, a room (in quot., on board ship) devoted to the storage and exchange of trade goods; trade-route, a route followed by traders or caravans, or by trading-ships; trade-sale, an auction held by and for a particular trade; trade school, a school in which handicrafts are taught; † trade-way, (a) ? beaten path; passage, thoroughfare; (b) the fairway of navigation. See also TRADECRAFT, -MARK, -UNION, -WIND.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Trade allowance, Trade-price, a wholesale discount, allowed to dealers or retailers on articles to be sold again.
1909. Daily Chron., 26 March, 6/4. To-day the President of the Board of Trade will introduce the new *Trade Boards Bill, dealing with what are known as ‘sweated’ trades.
1849. N. & Q., 1st Ser. I. 55/2. A custom … which now passes under the designation of a *‘Trade-Edition,’ the meaning … being, that the copyright, instead of being the exclusive property of one person is divided into shares and held by several.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 432. That peculiar language, *‘trade English’; it is not only used as a means of intercommunication between whites and blacks, but between natives using two distinct languages. Ibid., 434. I have a collection of trade English letters and documents, for it is a language that I regard as exceedingly charming.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Trade-hall, a meeting-hall, or sale-room in a town, for manufacturers or traders.
1662. Owen, Animadv. Fiat Lux, Wks. 1851, XIV. 142. [Latin] is the *trade-language of religion among learned men.
1888. 19th Cent., Nov., 759. In our prisons the schoolmaster and the *trademaster take the place of the executioner.
1861. in Sebastian, Digest of Cases, 112. So far as the name was used … as a *trade name, the representatives of J. G. Loring were entitled under the Massachusetts Statute (Gen. St. c. 56) to restrain them [etc.].
1878. Sebastian, Law of Trade Marks, 12. In imitation of trade names … used as such and not as trade marks on goods.
1898. Patent Office Reports, XV. 134. Goods marked with a trade name (i. e. Brazilian Silver).
1900. Hopkins, Law unfair Trade, 29. Proper names are not trade marks, and … there should not be such a thing as a technical trade name.
1904. A. Griffiths, 50 Yrs. Public Service, xix. 269. Sometimes *trade officers, such as tailor, shoemaker, or serving mistress, helped themselves to materials from store.
1822. Scott, Nigel, Introd. Epist. You shall have it at *trade price.
1866. Livingstone, Last Jrnls. (1873), I. i. 18. Our course is … in ‘wadys,’ from which, following the *trade-road, we often ascend the heights.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xiii. 28. The cargo having been entered in due form, we began trading. The *trade-room was fitted up in the steerage.
1876. R. E. Lytton, Lett. (1906), II. xiv. 37. The *trade-routes have been re-opened.
1847. Webster, *Trade-sale, an auction by and for the trade, especially that of the booksellers.
1861. Chambers’s Encycl., II. 230/2. Trade sale.
1910. W. Parker, in Encycl. Brit., XI. 352/2. The skins are sold in the trade sale as martens, but as there are many that are of a very dark colour and the majority are almost as silky as the Russian sable, the retail trade has for generations back applied the term of sable to this fur.
1898. Engineering Mag., XVI. 133/1. The Proficiency of the *Trade School Plumber.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 3 May, 12/2. The day trade-schools provided by the Council for the training of boys and girls in certain trades after they leave the elementary schools.
1600. Surflet, Countrie Farme, V. iv. 665. Let them be ditched round about … to cut off the *trade waies of passengers.
1643. Admir. Crt., Exam., 58, 1 June. [A ship wrongly anchored in] the trade way.
b. Combinations with trades (pl. or for genitive trade’s), as trades-combination = TRADE-UNION; trades committee, a committee that regulates conditions of employment in a trade; † trades-master, one who has mastered a trade; a master workman (in quot. 1657, as distinct from a journeyman); tradesperson, nonce-singular of tradespeople. See also TRADESFOLK, TRADESMAN, TRADESPEOPLE, TRADES-UNION, TRADESWOMAN.
1910. J. W. Harper, Soc. Ideal, xxxiii. 272. *Trades-combinations and masters’ unions … are stages of progress. They are not final institutions.
1842. Cobden, in Morley, Life, xii. (1902), 43/2. I would rather live under a Dey of Algiers than a *Trades Committee.
1612. R. Fenton, Usury, 96. If he be his *trades-master, he shall not stand in so great need of Gods blessing as other honest men do.
1657. J. Watts, Dipper Sprinkled, 174. Then to commence Merchant or Trades-master.
1886. E. Ward, Dress Reform Problem, iii. 50. A saving of trouble … both to the *tradesperson and the wearer.
