sell

English Online Dictionary. What means sell‎? What does sell mean?

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛl/
• Homophones: cel, cell
• Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

From Middle English sellen, from Old English sellan (“give; give up for money”), from Proto-West Germanic *salljan, from Proto-Germanic *saljaną, from Proto-Indo-European *selh₁-. Compare Danish sælge, Swedish sälja, Icelandic selja.

Verb

sell (third-person singular simple present sells, present participle selling, simple past and past participle sold)

2. (transitive, ditransitive, intransitive) To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.

   Synonyms: peddle, vend
3. (ergative) To be sold.

5. (transitive) To promote (a product or service) although not being paid in any direct way or at all.
7. (transitive) To promote (a particular viewpoint).

8. (transitive) To betray for money or other things.
9. (transitive, slang) To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
10. (transitive, professional wrestling, slang) To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
11. (Australia, slang, intransitive) To throw under the bus; to let down one's own team in an endeavour, especially in a sport or a game.

Antonyms

• buy

Derived terms

Descendants

• Chinese Pidgin English: sellum, 些林 (Chinese spelling)
• Sranan Tongo: seri

Translations

Noun

sell (plural sells)

1. An act of selling; sale.
2. (figurative, by extension) The promotion of an idea for acceptance.

3. An easy task.
4. (colloquial, dated) An imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.
   • 1922, Katherine Mansfield, The Doll's House (Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, 354)

     What a sell for Lena!

Derived terms

See also

• sale

Etymology 2

From French selle, from Latin sella.

Alternative forms

• selle (obsolete)

Noun

sell (plural sells)

1. (obsolete) A seat or stool.
2. (archaic) A saddle.

Etymology 3

From Old Saxon seill or Old Norse seil. Cognate with Dutch zeel (“rope”), German Seil (“rope”).

Noun

sell (plural sells)

1. (regional, obsolete) A rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).

Derived terms

• bowsell

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Anagrams

• ELLs, Ells, ells

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *stillom, cognate to Welsh syll and Old Irish sell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛl/

Noun

sell m

1. look, glance

Chinese

Etymology

From English sell.

Pronunciation

Verb

sell

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese) to sell; to promote services or products; to promote a viewpoint

See also

• sales

References

• English Loanwords in Hong Kong Cantonese

Pennsylvania German

Pronoun

sell

1. that one

Determiner

sell

1. neuter nominative/accusative singular of seller: that

Declension

Scots

Etymology

From Old English sellan.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛl/

Verb

sell (third-person singular simple present sells, present participle sellin, simple past sellt or sauld, past participle sellt or sauld)

1. To sell.