Hypertext Webster Gateway: "cheapen"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Cheapen \Cheap"en\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cheapened}; p. pr. &
vb. n. {Cheapening}.] [OE. cheapien, chepen, to trade, buy,
sell, AS. ce['a]pian; akin to D. koopen to buy, G. kaufen,
Icel. kaupa, Goth. kaup[=o]n to trade. Cf. {Chap} to
bargain.]
1. To ask the price of; to bid, bargain, or chaffer for.
[Obsoles.]
Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy. --Swift.
2. [Cf. {Cheap}, a.] To beat down the price of; to lessen the
value of; to depreciate. --Pope.
My proffered love has cheapened me. --Dryden.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
cheapen
v : lower the grade of something; reduce its worth [syn: {degrade}]
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.