Mar"ket (?), n. [Akin to D.
markt, OHG. markāt, merkāt, G.
markt; all fr.L. mercatus trade, market place, fr.
mercari, p. p. mercatus, to trade, traffic,
merx, mercis, ware, merchandise, prob. akin to
merere to deserve, gain, acquire: cf. F. marché.
See Merit, and cf. Merchant, Mart.]
1. A meeting together of people, at a stated
time and place, for the purpose of traffic (as in cattle, provisions,
wares, etc.) by private purchase and sale, and not by auction; as, a
market is held in the town every week.
He is wit's peddler; and retails his wares
At wakes, and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs.
Shak.
Three women and a goose make a
market.
Old Saying.
2. A public place (as an open space in a
town) or a large building, where a market is held; a market place or
market house; esp., a place where provisions are sold.
There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a
pool.
John v. 2.
3. An opportunity for selling anything;
demand, as shown by price offered or obtainable; a town, region, or
country, where the demand exists; as, to find a market for
one's wares; there is no market for woolen cloths in that
region; India is a market for English goods.
There is a third thing to be considered: how a
market can be created for produce, or how production can be
limited to the capacities of the market.
J. S.
Mill.
4. Exchange, or purchase and sale; traffic;
as, a dull market; a slow market.
5. The price for which a thing is sold in a
market; market price. Hence: Value; worth.
What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed ?
Shak.
6. (Eng. Law) The privelege granted to
a town of having a public market.
&fist; Market is often used adjectively, or in forming
compounds of obvious meaning; as, market basket, market
day, market folk, market house, marketman,
market place, market price, market rate,
market wagon, market woman, and the like.
Market beater, a swaggering bully; a noisy
braggart. [Obs.] Chaucer. -- Market
bell, a bell rung to give notice that buying and
selling in a market may begin. [Eng.] Shak. --
Market cross, a cross set up where a market is
held. Shak. -- Market garden, a
garden in which vegetables are raised for market. --
Market gardening, the raising of vegetables for
market. -- Market place, an open square or
place in a town where markets or public sales are held. --
Market town, a town that has the privilege of a
stated public market.
Mar"ket (?), v. i. [imp. & p.
p. Marketed; p. pr. & vb. n.
Marketing.] To deal in a market; to buy or sell; to make
bargains for provisions or goods.
Mar"ket, v. t. To expose for sale
in a market; to traffic in; to sell in a market, and in an extended
sense, to sell in any manner; as, most of the farmes have
marketed their crops.
Industrious merchants meet, and market
there
The world's collected wealth.
Southey.
