A postern with a blind wicket there was, A common
trade to pass through Priam's house. --Surrey.
Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade.
--Spenser.
Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway, Some way
of common trade, where subjects' feet May hourly
trample on their sovereign's head. --Shak.
2. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment. [Obs.]
``The right trade of religion.'' --Udall.
There those five sisters had continual trade.
--Spenser.
Long did I love this lady, Long was my travel, long
my trade to win her. --Massinger.
Thy sin's not accidental but a trade. --Shak.
3. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration;
affair; dealing. [Obs.]
Have you any further trade with us? --Shak.
4. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging
commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money;
commerce; traffic; barter.
Note: Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing,
either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in
bills, or in money; but it is chiefly used to denote
the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and
merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is
either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in
the exportation and importation of goods, or the
exchange of the commodities of different countries.
Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and
selling, of goods within a country. Trade is also by
the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large
quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by
retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the
business of transporting commodities from one country
to another, or between places in the same country, by
land or water.
5. The business which a person has learned, and which he
engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit;
occupation; especially, mechanical employment as
distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned
professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of
a smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the
trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.
Accursed usury was all his trade. --Spenser.
The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade. --Milton.
I will instruct thee in my trade. --Shak.
6. Instruments of any occupation. [Obs.]
The house and household goods, his trade of war.
--Dryden.
7. A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus,
booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the
trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.
9. Refuse or rubbish from a mine. [Prov. Eng.]
Syn: Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation;
employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.
{Board of trade}. See under {Board}.
{Trade dollar}. See under {Dollar}.
{Trade price}, the price at which goods are sold to members
of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to retailers.
{Trade sale}, an auction by and for the trade, especially
that of the booksellers.
{Trade wind}, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little
beyond at, which blows from the same quarter throughout
the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so
called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence
to trade.
Note: The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E.
to S. W. on the north side of the equator, and from S.
E. to N. W. on the south side of the equator. They are
produced by the joint effect of the rotation of the
earth and the movement of the air from the polar toward
the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by
heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the air
in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally
limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one on
each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which
is characterized by calms or variable weather.
A free port, where nations . . . resorted with their
goods and traded. --Arbuthnot.
2. To buy and sell or exchange property in a single instance.
3. To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; --
usually followed by with.
How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth?
--Shak.
They traded the persons of men. --Ezek. xxvii.
13.
To dicker and to swop, to trade rifles and watches.
--Cooper.