English Online Dictionary. What means grocery? What does grocery mean?
English
Etymology
From French grosserie (“wholesale”). Compare gross.
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹəʊs(ə)ɹi/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈɡɹoʊs(ə)ɹi/, /ˈɡɹoʊʃ(ə)ɹi/
Noun
grocery (plural groceries)
- (usually in the plural) Retail foodstuffs and other household supplies.
- Synonyms: commodities, general goods, groceries, packaged goods
- 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
- Where ten thousand pounds can be employed in the grocery trade, the wages of the grocer's labour make but a very trifling addition...
- A shop or store that sells groceries; a grocery store.
- Synonyms: general store, greengrocer's, grocer's, grocery shop, grocery store, market, supermarket
- 1854: Henry David Thoreau, Walden
- I observed that the vitals of the village were the grocery, the bar-room, the post-office, and the bank...
Usage notes
When referring to goods, the singular form is primarily used attributively, as in a grocery bill, a grocery list, etc. The plural form, groceries, is much more frequently used to refer to the goods themselves, rather than to multiple stores that sell them, especially in the U.S. Furthermore, a single grocery item (purchased at the store) cannot be called a grocery (that is, the word groceries is a plurale tantum in that sense, albeit not in its "multiple stores" sense).
Derived terms
Related terms
- greengrocer
- grocer
- groceries
Translations
Verb
grocery (third-person singular simple present groceries, present participle grocerying, simple past and past participle groceried)
- (intransitive) To go grocery shopping.
- (transitive) To furnish with groceries.