/ ʃɒp; NAmE ʃɑːp/ noun , verb
■ noun
WHERE YOU BUY STH
1.
[ C ] ( especially BrE ) a building or part of a building where you can buy goods or services :
a shoe shop
There's a little gift shop around the corner.
( BrE )
a butcher's shop
( NAmE )
a butcher shop
( BrE )
I'm just going down to the shops . Can I get you anything?
—see also bakeshop , bucket shop , coffee shop , corner shop , factory shop
FOR MAKING / REPAIRING THINGS
2.
(also work·shop ) [ C ] (especially in compounds) a place where things are made or repaired, especially part of a factory where a particular type of work is done :
a repair shop
a paint shop (= where cars are painted)
—see also body shop
SHOPPING
3.
[ sing. ] ( BrE , informal ) an act of going shopping, especially for food and other items needed in the house :
I do a weekly shop at the supermarket.
SCHOOL SUBJECT
4.
(also ˈshop class ) [ U ] (both NAmE ) = industrial arts
ROOM FOR TOOLS
5.
(also work·shop ) [ C ] ( NAmE ) a room in a house where tools are kept for making repairs to the house, building things out of wood, etc.
•
IDIOMS
- all over the shop
- set up shop
—more at bull , hit verb , mind verb , shut verb , talk verb
■ verb
( -pp- )
BUY
1.
[ v ] shop (for sth) to buy things in shops / stores :
to shop for food
He likes to shop at the local market.
She was determined to go out and shop till she dropped .
2.
go shopping [ v ] to spend time going to shops / stores and looking for things to buy :
There should be plenty of time to go shopping before we leave New York.
'Where's Mum?' 'She went shopping.'
TELL POLICE ABOUT SB
3.
[ vn ] shop sb (to sb) ( BrE , informal ) to give information to sb, especially to the police, about sb who has committed a crime :
He didn't expect his own mother to shop him to the police.
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- shop around (for sth)
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : shortening of Old French eschoppe lean-to booth, of West Germanic origin; related to German Schopf porch and English dialect shippon cattle shed . The verb is first recorded (mid 16th cent.) in the sense imprison (from an obsolete slang use of the noun for prison ), which led to sense 3.