▪ I. barter, v.
(ˈbɑːtə(r))
[App. a derivative formation from barat, barrat v.; cf. sense of F. barater ‘to cheat, cousen..to trucke, scourse, barter, exchange’ (Cotgr.), in Godefroy = ‘troquer, échanger’ under date 1373, It. barattare ‘to barter, trucke, chop and change one thing for another’ (Florio 1598), Sp. baratar ‘to sell cheape, or deceive.’ With the final -er, cf. batter, falter, stutter; but an intermediate form *barat-er connecting barat and barter has not been found.]
1. trans. To give (a commodity) in exchange for something taken as of equivalent value; distinguished from purchase and sell, which imply that money is given for the commodity. to barter away: to dispose of by barter; cf. also 2. Const. for (with obs.) a thing, with a person.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25 Bartryn or changyn, or chafare oone thynge for a othere, cambio. 1530 Palsgr. 444/1 It is a comen feate of marchauntes to barter [trocquer] ware for ware. 1590 Shakes. 1 Hen. VI, i. iv. 31 But with a baser man of Arms by farre, Once, in contempt, they would haue barter'd me. 1669 Gale Crt. Gentiles i. i. iv. 23 They, by frequent Commerce..barter and exchange commodities, each with other. a 1704 Locke (J.) He also bartered away plums that would have rotted in a week, for nuts that would last good..a whole year. 1796 Coleridge Answ. Melanch. Let. Wks. I. 87 Barter for food the jewels of his crown. 1833 H. Martineau Charmed Sea iv. 44 Those who have little merchandise to barter away. |
2. fig. a. To exchange.
| 1602 Warner Alb. Eng. ix. xlix. (1612) 226 Such hearts to barter blowes. 1664 H. More Myst. Iniq. v. 12 They have..bartered away one great evil for several others. 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. iii. i. 18, I but barter Less grief for greater. |
b. To part with for a consideration, usually a mercenary or unworthy one; to bargain away.
| 1664 Decay Chr. Piety (J.) They will barter away their time. 1764 Goldsm. Trav. 305 E'en liberty itself is barter'd here. 1862 Bright Amer., Sp. 18 Dec. (1876) 110 Writers of eminence and honour who will not barter human rights for the patronage of the great. 1863 W. Phillips Speeches iii. 49 The greatest hour of the age was bartered away. |
3. intr. To trade by exchange of commodities.
| 1485 in Arnold Chron. (1811) 229 To selle, barter, and occupye in our sayd landis and lordships. 1635 Quarles Emblems ii. v. (1718) 83 With thy bastard bullion thou hast barter'd for wares of price. 1865 Livingstone Zambesi xix. 391 We did not see much evidence of a wish to barter. |
▪ II. barter, n.
(ˈbɑːtə(r))
[f. prec. vb.]
1. The act or practice of trafficking by exchange of commodities; truck.
| 1592 West Symbol. B j. §26 The putting of such thinges in fellowship or barter. 1677 A. Yarranton Eng. Improv. 186 In the way of barter, the Pin-Makers may have..Bacon from Shrewsbury for Pins. 1796 Burke Regic. Peace Wks. VIII. 334 Differences arising from the spirit of huckstering and barter. 1857 Livingstone Trav. xx. 407 Salt..and calico are the common medium of barter. |
2. fig. Exchange, interchange.
| 1819 Scott Ivanhoe xxxii, I will exchange no more cuffs with thee, having been a loser by the barter. 1844 Kinglake Eothen ii. (1878) 24 We made our sullen way through the darkness with scarcely one barter of words. |
3. Goods to be bartered or traded in by exchange.
| 1740 Felton (J.) Ladies that change plate for china: for which the laudable traffick of old clothes is much the fairest barter. 1800 Stuart in Wellesley Disp. 577 Piece goods and grain may be made barter for any quantity of coffee. |
4. Arith. The computation of the quantity or value of one commodity, to be given for a known quantity and value of another; the ‘rule’ or method of computing this.