I. ˈshäp noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English shoppe, from Old English sceoppa booth; akin to Middle Dutch schoppe booth, Old High German scopf shed, Old English scypen, scepen, scipen cowshed, and probably to Old English scēaf sheaf — more at sheaf
1.
a. : a handicraft establishment : atelier , studio
three shops exclusively devoted to the hand-hammering of gold leaf — American Guide Series: New Jersey
b. : a team of glassworkers usually consisting of a gatherer, blower, and servitor : chair
one … shop of men worked at each glory hole — Freda Diamond
2.
a. : a building or room stocked with merchandise for sale : store
the shops offer plenty of food and consumers' goods — Drew Middleton
b. or shoppe “
(1) : a small retail establishment or a department in a large one offering a specified line of goods or services
gift shop
sport shop
beauty shop
(2) : a small retail establishment concentrating on exclusive or top quality merchandise : a specialty shop
c. : something that resembles a shop
Paris University was the great thinking- shop, the main European market of theologico-philosophical ideas — G.G.Coulton
d.
(1) : a center of operations
sets up shop on the tailboard of a station wagon — J.S.Redding
set up shop in the area … and handled over half a million refugees before the exodus was stopped — New Yorker
(2) : functional activity
sets up shop as the local commissar — Time
the city shuts up shop for a week — Ray Duncan
e. : a source of supply
he's come to the wrong shop for that — Charles Dickens
3.
a. : a commercial establishment for the making or repairing of goods or machinery
blacksmith's shop
machine shop
casting shops and rolling mills — American Guide Series: Connecticut
at the San Francisco yard … one steel shop covers almost five acres — All Hands
b. obsolete : something that resembles a workshop
the liver … the shop and source of the blood — James Howell
c. : a home workshop
spends every spare minute in his shop making model airplanes
d.
(1) : a laboratory in an elementary or secondary school equipped for instruction in manual arts
the general shop may provide facilities for work in metals, electricity, and transportation — L.V.Newkirk
(2) : the art or science of working with tools and machinery
there will be one exception, perhaps … one boy out of twenty who does badly in English and well in shop — C.D.Green
made bookends for his mother as a project in shop
4.
a. : a business establishment : place of employment
print shop
especially : office
it had been a battle to get them into the shop and behind their typewriters or drawing boards before 9:30 — Advertising Age
— compare union shop
b. : a gathering place : center of activity
farmers filled the front of the shop , leaning against the bar — Sigerson Clifford
c. : job ; especially : a theatrical engagement
now she would be out of a shop all through the autumn — Leonard Merrick
d. : shoptalk
safety-conscious young men who could talk intelligent shop with any engineer in Detroit — Time
summarized a good deal of dead musical shop in smaller type — New Statesman & Nation
talk golf- shop in season and out of season — Andrew Lang
II. verb
( shopped ; shopped ; shopping ; shops )
transitive verb
1. dialect
a. : arrest , imprison
b. : to inform on : betray
she had shopped him to the police — Manchester Guardian Weekly
2. archaic : to take to market : put on sale
3.
a.
(1) : to look over (available goods or services) with an eye to purchase
shop our quality collection of … mink capes — advt
(2) : to examine the stock of
get back in time to shop the curio stores along the bay front — Holiday
(3) : buy
shop me a couple of those little … figurines — Lawrence Durrell
b. : to scan (as a newspaper) for information about available goods or services
make a habit of shopping the catalogs — F.F.Rockwell
4. : to send to a repair shop
shop a railroad car for periodic maintenance
intransitive verb
1.
a. : to examine goods and services with intent to buy
shop for groceries
shop for clothes
— compare window-shop
b. : to probe a market in search of the best buy
exhibitors were kept busy … booking orders, despite the tendency to shop on opening day — Women's Wear Daily
— usually used with around
after you've decided on a brand, shop around — there is more than one dealer for each make of car — Motor Trend
c. : to look something over
went to his gage panel and shopped over it with his eyes — Joseph Whitehill
2. : to make a search : hunt
two very similar parties each shopping for winning ideas — F.L.Allen
— often used with around
students … shopping around for something consoling to believe — Sidney Hook
III. transitive verb
: to offer for sale — often used with around
shopping the manuscript around to the smaller publishers