▪ I. † cheap, n. Obs.
Forms: 1 céap, 2–5 chep, 2–7 cheap, 4–6 chepe, (5 chype, schep), 5–6 cheep(e, Sc. chaip(e, 6 chiepe, 6–7 cheape.
[A common Teut. n.: OE. céap ‘barter, buying and selling, market, price, merchandise, stock, cattle’, = OFris. kâp, OS. kôp (MDu. coop, Du. koop, LG. koop), OHG. chouf, MHG. kouf trade, buying and selling, merchandise, gain, payment (Ger. kauf purchase):—WGer. *kaup:—OTeut. *kaupo-z masc.; cf. ON. kaup bargain, pay, wages (SW. köp, Da. kjöb bargain, purchase, price), neut.:—*kaupo{supm}. The original sense was ‘bargaining, barter, exchange of commodities’, whence, after the use of money, ‘buying and selling’, ‘buying or selling’, in later times often restricted to ‘buying, purchase’ alone. Beside it, the Teut. langs. have the derivative verbs, *kaupjan (OHG. chouffen, OE. c{iacu}epan), and *kaupôjan (Goth. kaupon, OHG. choufôn, OE. céapian) to barter, buy and sell, etc. (see cheap v.), and OHG. an agent-n. choufo, WGer. type *kaupo, -on, trader, merchant. OE. is the only language in which the n. has the sense ‘cattle’, so that there is no ground for taking that as the original sense; it was either, like the word cattle itself, a special application of the general sense ‘merchandise, stock’, or perhaps connected with the use of cattle as a medium of exchange or measure of value; cf. fee.
The coincidence of the stem kaup-, and esp. the identity of the WGer. agent-n. *kaupo, -on ‘trader, merchant, dealer’, with L. caupo, -ōn-em ‘petty tradesman, huckster, tavern keeper’, has suggested that the Teut. word and its family are of Latin origin. But there are serious difficulties.
Some, taking the Goth. vb. kaupatjan ‘to cuff’ as a deriv. of the same root, suggest for kaup- the original sense of ‘stroke, striking’: compare the notion of ‘striking’ a bargain, ‘striking hands’ over a bargain, Ger. handschlag.]
I. As a simple n.
1. A bargain about the bartering or exchanging of one commodity for another, or of giving money or the like for any commodity; bargaining, trade, buying and selling.
| Beowulf 4822 Næs þæt yðe ceap to ᵹegangenne gumena æniᵹum. a 1200 Moral Ode 68 in Lamb. Hom. 163 Ech mon mid þet he hauet mei buggen houene riche..Alse mid his penie alse oðer mið his punde. Þet is þe wunderlukeste chep þet eni mon efre funde. c 1205 Lay. 31799 No mihtest þu þurh nene chep finde neouwer na bred. a 1310 in Wright Lyric P. xi. 39 Al for on y wolde ȝeve threo, withoute chep. |
2. The place of buying and selling; market. (Hence b. in place-names, as Cheapside, Eastcheap.)
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. xxxii. (Z.) 201 Ueneo, ic gange to ceape. 1462 Paston Lett. 452 II. 103, I wolle..man hyr and bryng hyr downne to the Gylys of Hulle, for that ys my chype. |
| b. c 1300 K. Alis. 2654 Al so noble of riche mounde, So is chepe in this londe. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 165 A Rakere of chepe. 1596 J. Norden Progr. Pietie (1847) 115 Deservedly crowned with a halter in Cheap. |
3. That which is given in exchange for a commodity; price; value.
| c 1025 Cnut's Eccl. Laws 18 (Bosw.) Deopum ceape ᵹebohte. c 1205 Lay. 385 Hire cheap wes þe wrse. 1424 Sc. Act Jas. I (1597) §24 Bread and aile..for reasonable price, after the chaipes of the countrie. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 72 Cheep [K. chep or pryse, 1499 chepe], precium. |
4. Exchangeable commodities, merchandise, goods, chattels, esp. (live) cattle.
| 897 O.E. Chron., Ac hie wæron micle swiþor ᵹebrocede on þæm þrim ᵹearum mid ceapes cwilde and monna. 971 Blickl. Hom. 39 Þæt we..aᵹeafon þone teoþan dæl þæs þe we on ceape habban. Ibid. Þone teoþan dæl on urum wæst⁓mum, & on cwicum ceape. a 1000 Laws King Ine 40 (Bosw.) His neahᵹebures ceap. |
II. In contextual uses.
5. Bargain, purchase; qualified from the buyer's point of view as good, great, etc., as in the modern ‘a good bargain’, ‘a great bargain’, ‘a bargain’, etc. Cf. F. faire bon marché.
| 1340 Ayenb. 36 Þe oþre beggeþ þe þinges, huanne hi byeþ lest worþ, to greate cheape. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 523 To greet chep is holden at litel pris. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) IV. 143 [They] makeþ it as þouȝ þey wolde nouȝt þerof, to have þe bettre chepe. a 1400 Octouian 820 To no man schuld hyt be sold Half swych a chepe. c 1460 Towneley Myst. 102 Men say ‘lyght chepe Letherly for-yeldys’. 1480 Caxton Chron. Eng. ccxvii. 205 They toke the kynges prises for hir peny worthes at good chepe. 1530 Palsgr. Introd. 49 Marché, a bargen or a marketstede or cheepe, as good cheepe, bon marchie. |
b. niggard cheap: close thrift, economy, niggardliness.
| 1463 Paston Lett. 478 II. 139 Summe sey þat ze kepe hym at home for negard chepe, and wyll no thing ware upon hym. |
6. State of the market, qualified from the buyer's point of view as good, dear, etc. good cheap: a state of the market good for the purchaser; low prices, abundance of commodities, plenty, cheapness. So dear cheap: a dear market, high prices, dearth, scarcity.
| c 1325 Pol. Songs (Camden) 341 Tho god ȝer was aȝein icome, and god chep of corn. c 1449 Pecock Repr. i. xviii. 108 In a ȝeer of derth and in a ȝeer of greet cheep. 1481 Caxton Myrr. iii. viii. 147 Ther is plente and good chepe in one yere, In another yere it is had in grete chierte. 1481–3 ― Bk. for Travellers in Promp. Parv. 72 He byeth in tyme & at hour, so that he hath not of the dere chepe [du chier marchiet]. 1554–9 in Songs & Ball. Ph. & Mary (1860) 12 Dear cheape of vittels withe the thowe hast brought. 1574 Hellowes tr. Gueuara's Ep. (1577) 223 Meruell of the good cheape that was in those dayes, and of the dearth that is nowe of victualles. |
b. transf. Plenty, abundance.
| c 1325 Coer de L. 1897 The Englishmen.. slew of them so great cheaps, That there lay much folk on heaps. 1489 Caxton Faytes of A. iv. xi. 261 It is but by wordes wherof is gode chep ynoughe. |
7. Hence, cheap alone: Abundance of commodities, plenty, cheapness; opposed to dearth.
| c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1974 Of chepe, of derthe, and of ruyne. a 1400 Cov. Myst. 148, I xal not spare for schep nor derthe. c 1570 Thynne Pride & Lowl. (1841) 6 Concerning dearth or cheape, goodness or harme. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 111 Slack neuer thy weeding, for dearth nor for cheape. |
8. quasi-adj. good cheap was used for: That is a good bargain, that can be purchased on advantageous terms; low-priced, cheap. Compared better cheap, best cheap. So (rarely) great cheap.
(It is not clear whether the notion was ‘at a good market’, or ‘as a good bargain’.)
| c 1375 Cato Major i. xxix. in Anglia VII, Þat is good chep may beo dere, And deore good chep also. c 1400 Mandeville xxii. 233 Clothes of Gold and of Sylk ben gretter chep there a gret del, than ben clothes of Wolle. 1494 Fabyan vii. 343 Vytayll..was better chepe in London, than in many shyrys. a 1529 Skelton Man. Margery Mylk & A. 25 The best chepe flessh that euyr I bought. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 104 Count best, the best-cheap, wheresoever ye dwell. 1574 T. Hill Conject. Weather ii, Vittayles shall be reasonable good cheape. 1611 Bible 2 Esdr. xvi. 21 Behold, victuals shall be so good cheape vpon earth. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 63 Nor is that which is best cheap, alwayes the best profit. 1682 Wheler Journ. Greece i. 25 Here is very good Bread and Wine, and good cheap I believe. 1736 Bailey, s.v. Best, Best is Best-cheap. |
b. transf. and fig. That costs little (trouble, etc.), easily obtained; plentiful, abundant; of small value, ‘cheap’.
| [1340 Ayenb. 256 Ac ulatours and lyeȝeres byeþ to grat cheap ine hare cort.] 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Because that vertue is so deere in thee, and makst folye so great cheape. 1557 Wyatt in Tottell's Misc. (Arb.) 83 Faire wordes..be good chepe, they cost right nought. 1620 Shelton Quix. III. xxxvi. 258 Nothing..is better cheap..than Compliment. 1637 Rutherford Lett. civ. (1862) I. 264 It cost me nothing, it is good-cheap love [i.e. Christ's]. 1647 Sanderson Serm. II. 200 They wish us well, and pity our case (good words are good cheap), but do little or nothing for us. 1656 Jeanes Fuln. Christ 315 That advice, which delivered by a common man, is good cheape, yet comming from a counseller, serjeant, judge, are of great value. |
9. quasi-adv. good cheap was also used (cf. to or at good cheap in 5) for: On advantageous terms, at a low cost, cheaply. (Compared as in 8.)
| 1420 Will & Inv. N. Counties (1835) 63 I wille þat my brothere William haue þe landes & rentys bettir chepe þen any othir man. 1428 E.E. Wills (1882) 82. 1467 Mann. & Househ. Exp. 395 My mastyr schal have it as good chepe as any othere mane. 1528 Tindale Wicked Mammon Wks. I. 122 To buy as good cheap as he can, and to sell as dear as he can. 1538 Aberdeen Reg. V. 16 (Jam.) Settis it bettir chaip to ony wyis. 1570 R. Ascham Scholem. (Arb.) 125 As a man, that would feede vpon Acornes, whan he may eate, as good cheape, the finest wheat bread. 1606 Choice, Chance, etc. (1881) 21 No Tradesman should sell his ware too good cheape. 1653 Baxter Chr. Concord 47 The people will take him for their Minister that will do it best cheap. 1667 Decay Chr. Piety xi. §8. 324 Like sick men, who desire to die good-cheap. |
b. transf. and fig. On good terms, with little effort; cheaply, easily.
| 1567–9 Jewel Def. Apol. (1611) 461 Ye might as good cheape, and as well haue wished, that all the whole people..would learne to speake Greke. 1583 Golding Calvin on Deut. clxviii. 1040 [They] thinke thereby to scape the better cheape before God. 1653 Holcroft Procopius ii. 39 Hoping..to take them all Prisoners good cheap. 1665 Spencer Prophecies 108 We may ever have Prophecies from these persons very good cheap. 1692 R. L'Estrange Josephus' Antiq. xvii. xii. The Romans..came off better Cheap. |
10. Comb. cheap-house, a house of merchandise. [Cf. OE. céapstow market-place.]
| 1606 Hieron Truths Purch. Wks. I. 46 This sinne of not caring to frequent Gods cheap-house, which is His church. |
▪ II. cheap, a. and adv.
(tʃiːp)
Also 6 chepe, 6–7 cheape.
[A comparatively recent shortening of ‘good cheap’, in its adjectival and adverbial uses; see prec., senses 8 and 9; not found before 16th c.]
A. adj.
1. a. That may be bought at small cost; bearing a relatively low price; inexpensive. Opposed to dear. Phr. cheap and nasty: of low price and bad quality; inexpensive but with the disadvantage of being unsuitable to one's purposes; hence cheap-and-nastiness.
| 1509 Hawes Past. Pleas. iv. xix, Of meate and drynke there was great plenty, Nothynge I wanted, were it chepe or dere. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 24 In these Ilands, fruit is cheape and delicate. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. I. i. i. 8 The silks of France are better and cheaper than those of England. 1822 C. M. Young Let. in Mrs. Mathews Mem. C. Mathews (1839) III. 312 Elliston has abandoned the cheap and nasty system, and adopted the liberal one! 1823 [see stereo n.]. 1831 Blackw. Mag. Feb. 416/2 On the top of the ‘cheap and nasty’, did you never pass through Birmingham? 1832 in C. M. Wakefield Life T. Attwood xiv. (1885) 231 (List of the banners..in the procession into Birmingham, May 28, 1832) Cheap Government, Cheap Religion, and Cheap Bread. 1841–4 Emerson Ess. Compensation Wks. 1884 I. 49 Cheapest, say the prudent, is the dearest labour. 1867 Carlyle Shooting Niagara vii. in Misc. Ess. (1872) VII. 226 ‘Cheap and nasty’; there is a pregnancy in that poor vulgar proverb, which I wish we better saw and valued! 1905 Studio Sept. 368/1 The cheap-and-nastiness of our suburban houses. 1911 Encycl. Brit. XXVIII. 810/1 It does not follow, however, that all woollen cloth is cheap and nasty. |
b. transf. (Applied to the price itself, the place where a commodity is sold, etc.) cheap fare: a fare at a lower rate than the ordinary fare; also cheap rate; also attrib.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. i. (R.) He sells his reputation, at cheape market. 1656 H. Philipps Purch. Patt. (1676) 4 The price of money falls cheaper, and the price of Land riseth dearer. 1710 W. Salmon Family Dict. (ed. 4) Pref. §7, Poor People would be furnished..with Firing..at very cheap Rates. 1721 Berkeley Prev. Ruin Gt. Brit. Wks. III. 200 Manufactures..set on foot in cheap parts of the country. 1776 Monthly Rev. Aug. 162 It may..serve to convey information ‘at a cheap rate’. 1785 Burns Scotch Drink xiii, The cheapest lawyer's fee. 1838 Murray's Hand-bk. N. Germ. 479 Heidelberg is a very cheap place of residence. 1867 Cassell's Mag. I. 438/2 Omnibuses..for many years..were running at a cheap rate. 1878 B. Price Pol. Econ. ix, To buy in the cheapest market. Mod. Patronizing cheap shops. He is not a cheap tailor. 1887 Peel City Guardian 28 May 5/1 To make special daily sailings from Liverpool to the Isle of Man and back at cheap fares. 1901 Daily Chron. 12 Aug. 7/5 For trade and cheap-rate passengers. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 14 Feb. 6/2 All the ‘cheap-fare’ vehicles. 1967 Guardian 4 Jan. 5/3 During the cheap rate period (10 p.m. to 10 a.m. British clock time Monday to Saturday, and all day Sunday) the charges for an ordinary call will be reduced. |
c. Applied to money obtainable at a low rate of interest.
| 1861 Economist 23 Mar. 309/2 Are we to look for cheap money soon, for progressive reductions in the rate of interest? 1940 G. Crowther Paying for War 31 But cheap money will be impossible..so long as there is a mass of 5 per cent war debt overhanging the money market. |
2. Bearing a low price in proportion to its intrinsic value; of good value in proportion to its price; well worth the price.
| 1611 Dekker Roaring Girl i. i. Wks. 1873 III. 141 Good things are most cheape, when th' are most deere. a 1632 G. Herbert Jacula Prudentum (1836) 141 Ill ware is never cheap. 1745 De Foe's Eng. Tradesm. xxxviii. (1841) 109 Our manufactures may be cheap, though high-priced, if the substance be rich. Ibid. xxxvii. 100 Goods may be low-priced and not cheap. 1855 Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 122 The services of a Secretary of State..well qualified for his post would have been cheap at five thousand. |
3. fig. Costing little labour, trouble, effort, etc.; easily obtained.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. ii. iv. 105 Twer the cheaper way. Better it were a brother dide at once, Then that a sister, by redeeming him, Should die for euer. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Church Porch x, The cheap swearer through his open sluce Lets his soul runne for nought. Ibid. xii, The cheapest sinnes most dearly punisht are; Because to shun them also is so cheap. 1660 Trial Regic. 20 He thinks it as cheap to defie the Court, as Submit to it. 1788 Gibbon Decl. & F. xxvi. (1875) 435/2 The courage of a soldier is found to be the cheapest and most common quality of human nature. 1885 J. Runciman Skippers & Sh. 10 My kisses ain't cheap. |
4. a. Involving little trouble and hence of little worth; worthless, paltry.
| 1571 Hanmer Chron. Irel. (1633) 63 Take it gentle reader as cheape as you finde it. a 1674 Clarendon Surv. Leviath. 22 The cheap laughter of all illiterate men. 1738 Johnson London 36 The cheap reward of empty praise. 1872 F. Hall False Philology 88 note, His cheap Latin has about the same..relevance, etc. 1884 Earl Grey in 19th Cent. Mar. 513 To win a cheap popularity with a large class of electors. |
b. In poor health; out of sorts. (Hence cheapness.) slang.
| 1891 Farmer Slang s.v., To feel cheap, to ‘have a mouth on’; to be suffering from a night's debauch. 1900 Westm. Gaz. 28 May 2/1 Putting down his weakness, lassitude, and general feeling of extreme cheapness to the climate. 1924 R. Rees April's Sowing xi. 141 ‘What's wrong with you, eh?’ ‘Nothing... A bit cheap, that's all.’ |
5. a. Accounted of small value, made little of, lightly esteemed; esp. brought into contempt through being made too familiar.
| 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iii. ii. 41 Had I so lauish of my presence beene..So stale and cheape to vulgar Company. a 1626 Bacon (J.) He that is too much in any thing, so that he giveth another occasion of society, maketh himself cheap. 1668–9 Pepys Diary 15 Jan., Making the king cheap and ridiculous. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 179/1 Pericles..took care not to make his person cheap among the people. 1799 in W. Jay Mem. C. Winter (1843) 70, I would not make my company cheap. 1841–4 Emerson Ess. Friendship Wks. (Bohn) I. 90 Leagues of friendship with cheap persons, where no friendship can be. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom ix. 73, I shall feel rather cheap there, after all that's been said and done. 1936 N. Coward Astonished Heart iii, It was all a trick—I planned it... I made up my mind then to make you fall in love with me—now I wish I hadn't—I feel cheap. 1959 G. Freeman Jack would be Gentleman vii. 137 They were engaged after all, it wasn't being cheap..it was just the full expression of their love. |
b. to hold cheap: to hold of small account, think little of, despise.
| 1590 Shakes. Com. Err. iii. i. 21, I hold your dainties cheap, sir, and your welcom deer. 1777 Priestley Disc. Philos. Necess. 171 The works of the three Scotch writers, which you and I hold so cheap. 1879 Froude Cæsar xi. 123 Possibly he [Cicero] held the Senate's intellect cheap. |
6. Phr. as cheap as dirt: exceedingly cheap(ly) (colloq.); hence dirt-cheap a., q.v. So the earlier dog cheap (colloq.). to be cheap of a thing (Sc.): not to be over-paid in respect of, to get less than one's deserts (in the way of retribution, etc.). So to be cheap served.
| 1577 Holinshed Chron., Descr. Irel. iii, They afourded their wares so doggecheape, that, etc. 1786 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Farew. Odes to R.A. xi, And though what's vulgarly baptiz'd a rep, Shall in a hundred pounds be deem'd dog-cheap. a 1817 Jane Austen Persuasion (1818) IV. ix. 190 All the honour of the family he held as cheap as dirt. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xxxviii, [Cumbrian loq.] She should hae been boorned aloive, an' cheap o't. 1818 ― Br. Lamm. xii, ‘If he loses by us a'thegither, he is e'en cheap o't.’ 1838 Dickens O. Twist xxxvii, I sold myself, said Mr. Bumble..I went very reasonable. Cheap, dirt cheap! 1844 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. xxxi. 228 They're as cheap as dirt. 1845 Whitehall 271 Excommunication and public penance and cheap of it. 1860 Reade Cloister & H. xix, Oh, let that pass: he is cheap served. 1918 Svartengren Intensifying Similes 346 Cheap's dirt. |
B. adverbially. a. At a low price, at small expense, cheaply; with little trouble, easily.
| 1568 Grafton Chron. II. 355 If the Englishemen brenne our houses, we care little therefore, for we may soone make them againe cheape inough. 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier D iij a, They care not..so they buy it cheape. c 1600 Shakes. Sonn. cx, Sold cheape what is most deare. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. xxiii. §1. 81 We got not this victorie so cheap, but that it cost seventeen mens lives. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 69 This work hath been done cheaper. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. (R.) Poor people, who work cheap and live meanly on a little rice. 1833 H. Martineau Briery Creek iii. 59 You shall have them cheap. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. iii. xxv. §3 To sell cheaper in the foreign market. |
b. Naut (See quot.) ? Obs.
| 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. s.v. Cable, Sometimes they say, Pay cheap the Cable, i.e. put or hand it out apace. |
C. n.
1. In the colloquial phrase on the cheap: on the cheap scale, cheaply.
| 1859 Hotten Slang Dict. s.v., ‘Doing it on the cheap’, living economically, or keeping up a showy appearance with very little means. 1888 Daily News 10 Dec. 5/2 The processes cannot be both rapid and good. As a consequence the prices cannot be low; you cannot do it ‘on the cheap.’ 1939 ‘G. Orwell’ Coming up for Air ii. x. 170 Anything from theosophy to cat's-cradle, provided you can do it on the cheap. |
2. pl. Things that may be bought at a low price or cheaply, esp. cheap editions of books.
| 1930 Publishers' Circular 23 Aug. 255/3 We understood that it was a new book, but surely this cannot be when we find the same story with the same title included in Pearson's Sixpenny cheaps. 1938 Times Lit. Suppl. 25 June 440/3 The Standard Novels and representative examples of similar ‘cheaps’. 1952 N. Streatfeild Aunt Clara 94 Nice queue for the cheaps [sc. the cheap seats]. |
D. Comb. Cheap Jack (also cheap-jack) or Cheap John, a travelling hawker who offers bargains, usually putting up his wares at an arbitrary price and then cheapening them gradually; also attrib. and transf.; hence cheap-jackery, that which is characteristic of a Cheap Jack; cheap skate (see skate n.3); cheap trip, a public excursion (by rail, steamer, etc.) at a specially reduced fare: see trip; cheap-tripper (colloq.), one who makes a cheap trip.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 214/1 The Cheap Jacks, or oratorical hucksters of hardware at fairs and other places, are among the most celebrated..of this class. 1865 Dickens in All Year Round Christmas i. 2/2 Of all the callings ill used in Great Britain, the Cheap Jack calling is the worst used. 1872 Geo. Eliot Middlem. vi. (D.) Making a sort of political Cheap Jack of himself. 1908 Daily Chron. 3 Feb. 1/7 The cheap Jack nostrum of Tariff Reform. 1953 J. Cary Except the Lord xviii. 80 The cheapjack men,..the freaks and the flea circus. |
| 1921 Spectator 28 May 684/1 Many politicians are willing to see every political struggle decline into cheapjackery. 1960 Times 17 May 13/5 A world of fairs..of cheap-jackery. |
| 1826–7 in Hone Every-day Bk. II. 1310 Which Cheap John is offering for next to nothing. 1875 Chamb. Jrnl. cxxxiii. 66 A Cheap-John is retailing his rude witticisms..to induce people to purchase his Sheffield cutlery. |
| 1858 J. Raine Mem. J. Hodgson II. 274 note, Mobs of cheap-trippers. 1884 J. Payn Lit. Recoll. iv. 116 The irruption of the cheap trippers. |
Add: [A.] [1.] [a.] Also cheap and cheerful (colloq.), simple, cheap, and pleasant.
| 1974 Times 12 Oct. 10/3 Cheap and cheerful chalets..about 15 minutes' brisk trot from the centre of the village. 1988 Daily Tel. 25 Feb. 11/4 The parade of pleats spans all price levels from designer-label to cheap and cheerful. |
▸ Brit., Austral., and N.Z. colloq.(as) cheap as chips: extremely inexpensive; at a very low price.
| 1850 Times 2 May 12/5 (advt.) To tea dealers—cheap as chips—to be let, a house and shop. 1856 J. Doran Knights & their Days 326 He..wrote thousands of songs, which he sold as cheap as chips. 1985 Sunday Mail (Brisbane) (Nexis) 27 Jan. Try the jambon rolls... Cheap as chips and mighty filling. 2004 Time Out 31 Mar. 26/2 The Indoor Market..looks like it hasn't altered in 20 years, but Turkish slippers and suitcases are as cheap as chips. |
▪ III. † cheap, v. Obs.
Forms: 1 céapian, 2–3 cheap-en, (3 chepin, chapi), 3–4 chepen, 4–6 chepe, (5 chepyn), 5–6 cheape, 6–7 cheap.
[A common Teut. vb.: OE. céapian, -ode to bargain, trade, chaffer, buy = OS. côpôn (LG. kôpen), OHG. choufôn, MHG. koufen to bargain, trade, buy and sell, buy, mod.G. kaufen to buy, ON. kaupa to bargain, barter, buy (Sw. köpa, Da. kjöbe to buy), Goth. kaupôn to traffic, trade, buy and sell:—OTeut. *kaupôjan, f. *kaupo-, OE. céap, cheap n. Beside this was another vb. *kaupjan (not in Goth.), OLG. côpian (LG. köpen, MDu. côpen, Du. koopen to buy), OHG. chouffen (MHG. käufen), OE. c{iacu}epan, c{iacu}pan, c{yacu}pan, -te, to sell; this does not appear to have come down into ME. For the derivation, see cheap n. This verb has now been superseded by cheapen.]
1. orig. (intr.) To barter, buy and sell; to trade, deal, bargain.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 12 Ða se Hælend into þam temple eode, he adraf ut ealle þa þe ceapodun [c 1160 Hatton G. cheapeden innan þam temple]. Ibid. Luke xix. 13 Ceapiaþ oð þæt ic cume. c 1160 Hatton G. ibid., Cheapiað oððæt ic cume. |
2. trans. To buy. (Ger. kaufen.)
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John iv. 8 Þætte metto ceapadon [Rushw. bohton, Ags. G. mete bicᵹan]. a 1000 Cædmon's Crist 1096 (Gr.) He lifes ceapode moncynne. c 1325 Pol. Songs 159 Such chaffare y chepe at the chapitre. c 1386 Chaucer Wife's Prol. 268 Sche wol on him lepe, Til that sche fynde som man hire to chepe. |
3. trans. To bargain for, bid for, offer to buy, offer a price for, ask the price of, ‘price’.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 290 Hwon he uor so liht wurð..cheapeð þine soule. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 380 Who so cheped my chaffare chiden I wolde, But he profred to paye a peny or twayne More þan it was worth. 1476 Plumpton Corr. 37 As for your cope, I have cheaped diverse, and under a hundred shillings I can by non. 1530 Palsgr. 482, I cheape, I demaunde the price of a thyng that I wolde bye, Je marchande. 1592 Greene Art Conny-catch. 25 A Flax-wife that wanted coles..cheped, bargaind and bought them. 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair iii. iv, Why..stand heere..cheaping of Dogges, Birds, and Babies? |
b. absol. or intr.
| c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 1271, & al þe wele of þe worlde were in my honde, & I schulde chepen & chose. 1598 Munday & Chettle Downfall Earl Huntingdon in Hazl. Dodsley VIII. 161 Come, cheap for love, or buy for money. 1600 Heywood 1 Edw. IV, iv. iii. Wks. 1874 I. 65 You come to cheape, and not to buy. |
4. trans. To treat or bargain in order to sell, to offer for sale; also (with inf.) to offer to sell.
| a 1225 Juliana 63 Þu..lettest an of þe tweolue þat tu hefdest icoren chapi [v.r. chepin] þe & sullen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 206 Þes deofles best, þet he let to chepinge..& cheapeð hit forto sullen. Ibid. 418 Ancre þet is cheapild, heo cheapeð hire soule þe chepmon of helle. c 1275 Passion our Lord 115 in O.E. Misc. 40 He com to þe Gywes..And chepte heom to sullen vre helare. a 1300 Cursor M. 14723 Mani chapmen..Serekin marchandis chepand. a 1400 Octouian 1909 Four outlawes..chepede me that chyld to sale, For syxty florencys. 1580 [see cheaping 1]. |
5. To fix the price of, set a price on, value.
| 1460 J. Capgrave Chron. 180 A grete ordinauns to chepe vitaile. 1483 Cath. Angl. 62 To chepe, taxare. 1570 Levins Manip. 208 To cheape, licitari, appreciare. |
▪ IV. cheap
var. of cheep v., to squeak.