▪ I. seller1
(ˈsɛlə(r))
Forms: 3–4 sullere, 4 suller, -ar, Kent. zeller, 4–5 siller(e, 5 sellere, -ar(e, -our, 5–6 syller, 4– seller.
[f. sell v. + -er1.]
1. a. One who sells.
| c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 213 Þe sullere loueð his þing dere... Ðe beger bet litel þar fore. c 1380 Wyclif Wks. (1880) 90 Most principale sillere of benefices & veyn indulgencis. a 1400 Old Usages Wynchestre in Eng. Gilds 355 Euerych sullere of bred in þe heyȝestrete of Wynchestre. 1444 Rolls of Parlt. V. 116/2 To damage of the beyour or sellour. 1540 Sel. Pleas Crt. Admiralty (1894) I. 98 Having a byll of sale..delyvered to hym by the seller. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. iv. iii. 240 To things of sale, a sellers praise belongs. 1692 Locke Lower. Interest 132 And so[to] raise the Price of Land, by making more Buyers than Sellers. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. iv. ii. 46 By diminishing the number of sellers, therefore, we necessarily diminish that of buyers. 1855 Dickens Dorrit i. xii, The Plaintiff was a chaunter, not a singer of anthems, but a seller of horses. 1866 W. Reed Hist. Sugar 159 Whilst sellers advanced their claims to be heard on the ground, that if [etc.]..the Americans would immediately become strong buyers. 1884 J. Gilmour Mongols xxxi. 365 After the two busy seasons there are a few buyers and sellers. 1900 Daily News 20 June 9/1 The number of easy sellers in cloth is again on the increase. |
| fig. 1697 G. Burghope Disc. Relig. Assemblies xii. 121 His Ears itch, and he runs after the Canting Seller of Breath. |
b. seller-up: see sell v. 14 b.
| 1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 294 A professional rent-receiver and seller-up. |
c. Business. In various phrases, as: (a) seller four (seller ten, seller twenty, seller the year, etc.): a form of contract in which the seller has the right to effect delivery within the specified number of days (four, ten, etc.); seller's option: the right of the seller to specify the number of days after which a sale is effected.
| 1849 Merchants' Mag. (U.S.) XX. 670 Fifty-six, buyer 20; 3rd broker—553/4, seller 10. 1857 Ibid. XXXVII. 134 Sales at seller's option are generally a fraction below the current cash price. 1869 ‘Mark Twain’ Innocents Abr. xxxiv. 369 Sales of one lot Circassians, prime to good, 1852–1854..; one forty-niner—damaged—at {pstlg}23, seller ten, no deposit. |
(b) seller's market: a market in which there is excess demand at the going rate so that it is easy to effect additional sales. Also fig.
| 1934 in Webster. 1948 G. Crowther Outl. Money (ed. 2) v. 163 The raw material markets may be transformed overnight from ‘seller's markets’ (i.e. where buying is insistent and the seller is in the strategic position) into ‘buyer's markets’, while the opposite movement is much slower. 1965 Zigrosser & Gaehde Guide to Collecting Orig. Prints vi. 91 In boom times and a seller's market, almost anyone can set up as a dealer and make a success of it. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion iii. vii. 275 Everybody..here seems to be going to some shrink. They're all into self-help,..or screaming sessions, or group therapy... It's a seller's market. |
2. A thing to be sold.
| 1831 Sutherland Farm Rep 80 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The packs, or shepherds' lambs, are divided into two sorts, sellers and keepers. |
3. Something with a (wide, poor, etc.) sale; also, without qualification, something that sells well. Also used of other commodities.
| 1895 Montgomery Ward Catal. Spring & Summer 6/2 Brocaded Brilliantines... This line we expect will be one of the greatest sellers of the season. 1900 Century Mag. LIX. 646/2 But tragic novels are poor sellers. 1903 Munsey's Mag. XXIX. 764 What are known as ‘sellers’—meaning books that enjoy a wide sale. 1905 Athenæum 9 Sept. 330/3 Fortunately the ‘best sellers’ are the worst survivors. 1925 Daily Tel. 13 May 20/7 (Advt.), Traveller Wanted.—We offer the latest new line. Big seller. Live men can earn {pstlg}10 week. 1976 Times 1 May (Food Suppl.) p. ii/6 On tinned meat he said: ‘My advice is to stock the major sellers, such as stewed steak.’ |
4. A selling race. colloq.
| 1922 N. & Q. 12th Ser. XI. 207/1 Seller,..a selling race—one in which the winner is bound to be offered by public auction. 1927 Daily Express 23 June 12/2 The game little Congou colt took another seller. 1928 Daily Sketch 7 Aug. 22/4 Another interesting proposition at the Midland meeting is the Loud Report filly in the juvenile seller. |
▪ II. † ˈseller2 Obs. rare.
Also 4 seler.
[a. OF. seller, selier (mod.F. sellier), f. selle saddle: see sell n.1]
A saddler.
| 1311 in Cal. Let.-Bk. Lond. D 64 [The same day, Richard de Gloucestre], seler, [admitted]. 1415 in York Myst. Introd. 26 Sellers [foot-n. ‘Sadellers’ is written above]. |
▪ III. seller
obs. f. cellar, celure; var. soler.