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sell
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As a verb, sell means transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money. As a noun, it means an act of selling.
Meanings of sell
23 meaningsverb
ditransitiveTo transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
“I'll sell you three books for a hundred dollars.”
“Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.”
To be sold.
“This old stock will never sell.”
“The corn sold for a good price.”
To promote a product or service.
To promote a particular viewpoint.
“My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.”
To betray for money or other things.
slangTo trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
professional wrestlingslangTo pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
euphemisticTo work as a prostitute.
Be sold at a certain price or in a certain way
“These books sell like hot cakes”
Persuade somebody to accept something
“The French try to sell us their image as great lovers”
Give up for a price or reward
“She sold her principles for a successful career”
Be approved of or gain acceptance
“The new idea sold well in certain circles”
Be responsible for the sale of
“All her publicity sold the products”
noun
An act of selling; sale.
figurativeThe promotion of an idea for acceptance.
“This is going to be a tough sell.”
An easy task.
The activity of persuading someone to buy
“it was a hard sell”
Older and rare meanings (4)
colloquialdatedAn imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.
obsoleteA seat or stool.
archaicA saddle.
regionalobsoleteA rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).
“He picked up the sell from the straw-strewn barn-floor, snelly sneaked up behind her and sleekly slung it around her swire while scryingː "dee, dee ye fooking quhoreǃ".”
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).