SELL-BY DATE

noun phrase (Lifestyle and Leisure) A date marked on food packaging (usually preceded by the words 'sell by') to indicate the latest recommended date of sale, especially for perishable goods. (The British equivalent of the US pull-by date.) Etymology: Formed by compounding: the date by which the retailer should sell or discard the goods. History and Usage: For history, see best before date and use-by date. Like best before date, sell-by date has occasionally been used in a transferred context or figurative sense. Socialism: the package that's passed its sell-by date. headline in Daily Telegraph 13 Mar. 1987, p. 16 New legislation is to be introduced to replace sell-by dates with more helpful use-by dates...More than eight out of ten people in our survey said they never buy food after its sell-by date has passed; only two per cent said they frequently do. Which? Apr. 1990, p. 205