▪ I. retail, n.1 (and a.)
(ˈriːteɪl)
Also 5–8 retaile, 5–7 -tayle, 6 -taylle, 6–7 retale; 6 rytaile.
[a. OF. retail masc. (= It. ritaglio, Pg. retalho, Sp. retajo) or retaille fem., a piece cut off, etc., f. retaillier, f. re- re- + taillier to cut; see tail v. The English sense of the word is found in AF. in the first half of the 14th c. The older stressing reˈtail, as in the verb, is still usual in Scotland.]
1. The sale of commodities in small quantities. a. In adv. phrases with by, at, † in, † to, or used adverbially without prep. (After AF. a retail, a or en retaille.) Also fig.
| 1433 Rolls of Parlt. IV. 478/2 No Baillyff..bye, ne selle, no maner vitaill to retaile. 1433 Waterford Arch. in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. V. 296 If the said marchandise be solde by retaile. 1467 in Eng. Gilds (1870) 397 That no persone..sille no Fysshe watrd at retayle. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 32 §10 Every persone..that..usith to by and sell any goodis or catalles at retayle. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man iv. (1603) 309 Without scruple they sell that justice by retaile that was bought in grosse. 1615 R. Brathwait Strappado (1878) 218 Both's to be bought: no difference in the sale; The one in grosse, the other in Retaile. 1631 R. Byfield Doctr. Sabb. 216 You set forth slanderous reports of Master Byfield, which you tooke in by retayle. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 106 §2, I..asked him, Whether he would break Bulk, and sell his Goods by Retail? 1784 New Spectator No. 17. 3 What barbarous parents,..to oblige a person of my figure to deal out tea and sugar retail! 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. ii. §6 (1876) 25 Even when things are destined to be at last sold by retail, convenience soon creates a class of wholesale dealers. 1886 Wayland & Chapin Pol. Econ. x. 121 It is ordinarily more economical to purchase supplies..at retail, than at wholesale, though the prices are higher. 1883 Law Times Rep. XLIX. 727/1 Clearly inviting the public to come and buy, both wholesale and retail. |
b. In other constructions.
| 1553 Gresham Let. in Burgon Life (1839) I. 464 That the retayller shall occupy onely his retayle, and the merchaunt adventorer his feat. 1567 Drant Horace, Ep. vii. D v, Goe make your marchandize, God sende you good retayle. 1588 J. Mellis Briefe Instr. F v, Of that accompte make the shoppe of retaile Creditor, as though it were a Debitor. 1605 Timme Quersit. iii. 190 To make retale of candels, lanternes, and all mercerie-wares. a 1660 Hammond Serm. Wks. 1683 IV. 569 Our best contrivance will be to shorten the retail, for the encreasing of the gross. a 1683 Oldham Wks. (1685) 16 He scorn'd Retail I'th' Trace of death: whole Myriads died by th' great. 1736 Gentl. Mag. VI. 631/1 By prohibiting the Retaile of Punch, some small Addition may be made to our Consumption of Wines. 1809 N. Pinkney Trav. France 80 There was no appearance of business, not even of a brisk retail, or of a lively thoroughfare. 1888 S. Dowell Taxes in Eng. II. 41 The duties on the retail of drinks made from tea, coffee, and chocolate. |
† 2. Detail (of a matter). Obs.
| 1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 534 Unsuccessful Sallyes, whose retail I decline telling you. 1678 Marvell Growth Popery Wks. (Grosart) IV. 263 Should I enter into a particular retail of all former and latter transactions,..there would be sufficient for a just volume of History. |
3. A retailer, a retail dealer.
| 1851 D. Jerrold Retired from Business i. 6 And wholesales don't mix with retails? I think I see. 1884 Pall Mall G. 19 May 6/1 There is said to be a suburb where the retired wholesales will not visit the retired retails. 1892 Ibid. 25 Nov. 2/2 The idea of the retails is to amend the Food and Drugs Act by making an invoice count as a warranty. |
4. attrib. (passing into adj.) Of or pertaining to, connected with, engaged in, the sale of commodities in small quantities. Also fig.
| 1601 R. Johnson Kingd. & Commw. (1603) 116 They..haue betaken themselues to liue by retaile and mechanical trades. 1689 in Picton L'pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 297 To drive some small retail trade. 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. 78 There may have been such Retaile-Coyn, set forth by some Retail-Dealers, in all Reigns perchance. 1760 T. Hutchinson Hist. Mass. iii. (1765) 317 Sold to the Indians at the retail price. 1785 Daily Universal Register 1 Jan. 3/4 R. Croft, Taylor..at his wholesale and retail warehouse..is now selling ladies' Italian Coats. 1812 Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. ii. 22 Farmers in the vicinity of large towns, may be compared to retail shopkeepers. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. I. iii. i. 520 The influence of those causes is ultimately felt in the retail markets. Ibid. I.24 The retail dealings, which collectively occupy a very great amount of capital, are sometimes conducted in small shops. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. vii, The poorer shops of small retail traders in commodities to eat and drink and keep folks warm. 1898 Kansas City (Missouri) Star 18 Dec. 2/1 Hatters, garment workers, shoe workers, retail clerks and textile workers. 1926 A. E. Taylor Plato xv. 379 This enables us to define the sophist again as a retail exporter of the knowledge of goodness.., though we must add that he sometimes retails his merchandise in the home market. 1926 Times 6 May 3/3 Coal is not being moved by rail, but retail distribution was being carried on in London yesterday. 1940 G. Crowther Outl. Money iii. 90 The second value of money which is usually distinguished is the value of money in buying the goods and services which the ordinary family consumes... This second variety can be called the retail value of money, or the cost of living. 1957 Practical Wireless XXXIII. 517/2 The British Radio Equipment Manufacturers' Association,..in their monthly retail survey. 1962 Listener 13 Sept. 376/2 Every famous jazz composer or retail-chain owner. 1967 G. Wills in Wills & Yearsley Handbk. Managem. Technol. x. 194 Retail audit,..continuous research with a panel of retailers to study inventory levels and sales of products over the counter. 1970 New Society 5 Mar. 383/3 Retail margins (the difference between the price paid by the shopkeeper and the price paid by the consumer) had previously been gradually rising. 1973 Times 25 Apr. 33/5 The brief includes a supermarket of about 40,000 sq ft., other retail units, a night club. 1976 Daily Tel. 20 July 1/4 Retail trade showed a slight recovery last month. 1979 Oil Majors in 1978 (Shell Internat. Petroleum Co.) 7 Gulf suffered reduced sales in Canada but increased them in Europe, partly owing to its acquisition of Mobil's retail outlets in Switzerland. |
b. transf. Parcelled out; piecemeal. rare.
| 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. C 2, Who thinks by Retail⁓pow'r his Kind to keep..May of a Kingdom soon a Cottage make. 1679 Establ. Test 41 What lingring and retail deaths would they think enough for such..Heretiques. |
c. Petty, trivial. rare—1.
| 1811 Syd. Smith Wks. (1859) I. 211/2 As much his superior in the retail qualities which small people arrogate to themselves, as he was in every commanding faculty to the rest of his fellow-creatures. |
d. Comb., as retail price index, an index of the variation in the prices of retail goods (see index n. 9 e); retail price maintenance = resale price maintenance s.v. resale n. 2.
| 1924 University Jrnl. Business June 263 In the construction of retail price and of cost-of-living indexes..significant developments have occurred. 1935 J. H. Cover Retail Price Behavior 86 Though it appears that the median may be more satisfactory for a retail price index, the mean is more logical for a cost-of-living index. 1974 Times 22 Mar. 17/3 Even by January, the retail price index had climbed half way to that seven per cent trigger point. |
| 1938 S. Chase Tyranny of Words xiv. 175 The new laws for retail price maintenance. 1966 A. Battersby Math. in Managem. ix. 232 The appeal to elasticity..has given rise to the fierce arguments about Retail Price Maintenance and the dilemma of those supporters of a competitive economy who attempt to eliminate the effects of free competition. |
▸ retail park n. orig. U.S. an out-of-town shopping development, usually containing a number of large chain stores.
| 1983 Washington Post (Nexis) 29 Sept. (Virginia Weekly) 4 Woodside resident Bill Blackman asked the board to help alleviate the noise from a lawn mower repair shop in the Woodside *Retail Park off Rte. 1. 1997 When Saturday Comes Jan. 35/2 There's no doubt, though, that retail-park football is going to help draw in the next generation. I've started taking my nephew to matches and I know my daughter might want to come too, now that Toys R Us and McDonalds are a stroll away. 2000 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 2 Aug. A countryside engulfed by cultural Americana—out-of-town retail parks or residential enclaves, designed primarily with the car in mind. |
▸ retail politics n. chiefly U.S. (a) depreciative the conducting of politics as if it were a retail business (rare); (b) a style of political campaigning in which the candidate targets voters on a small-scale or individual basis, typically by attending small meetings and local events.
| 1901 Chicago Daily Tribune 23 Sept. 6/7 He has only commercial instinct to see that while his own vote is worth only $5, a ‘block’ of ten votes is worth not $50, but a ‘job’ which will pay him, say $1,000 a year. This is *retail politics. 1972 Washington Post 5 Mar. a20/1 ‘There isn't anything I could do in the next few days, in two or three days of retail politics,’ said the senator, riding over icy roads to a speaking engagement. 2001 K. Marton Hidden Power viii. 223 She was good door-to-door. He couldn't do that. He wasn't much good at retail politics. |
▸ retail therapy n. orig. U.S. (humorous) the practice or an instance of shopping to cheer oneself up; shopping regarded as a leisure activity.
| 1986 Chicago Tribune (Nexis) 24 Dec. 2 We've become a nation measuring out our lives in shopping bags and nursing our psychic ills through *retail therapy. 1998 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 249/2 (caption) Stop for a reviving cafe au lait or glass of wine (or both!) at Place de General de Gaulle, before setting off for more retail therapy. 2001 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 2 Jan. She can rely on retail therapy for some relaxation. And..she won't have to struggle home on the bus with all her shopping. |
▪ II. † retail, n.2 Obs. rare—1.
Retaliation.
| 1615 T. Adams Lycanthropy Wks. (1629) 385 He that doth iniury, may well receiue it. To looke for good, and doe bad, is against the law of Retaile. |
▪ III. retail, v.
(rɪˈteɪl)
Also 5–6 retayll, 5–7 retaile, -tayle, 8 retale.
[See retail n. OF. retailler app. does not occur in this sense.]
1. trans. To sell (goods, etc.) in small quantities.
| 1365 [see retailing vbl. n.]. 1472 Paston Lett. III. 71, I truste be Ester to make of money..at the leest 1. marke for to retayle the wode our selfe. Ibid. To brynge it..to as goode proffe as thowe we retayled it oure silffe. 1503–4 Act 19 Hen. VII, c. 32 §10 Goodis or cattalles..that..he or they so retaylleth. 1540–1 Elyot Image Gov. (1556) 60 They that retayle that which is bought of the craftesman that worketh it. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. v. ii. 317 He is Wits Pedler, and retailes his Wares, At Wakes, and Wassels. 1617 Moryson Itin. iii. 95 Not shaming to retaile any commodity in small parts. 1712 Arbuthnot John Bull i. Pref., Stamping the Queen's Image on viler Metals, which he retales for Beef. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. v. ii. (1904) II. 506 The keepers of ale-houses pay for a licence to retail ale and spirituous liquors. 1829 Lytton Devereux ii. iii, Retailing the mixture as soon as he had filled his box. |
| absol. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §36 Therfore he that byeth grosse sale, and retayleth, muste nedes be a wynner. 1554 Hasse in Hakluyt Voy. (1598) I. 256 Like as we doe vse to retaile by the ounce. |
b. transf. or fig.
| 1576 Fleming Panopl. Epist. 234, I wil regard your commoditie,..leaste in steade of thankes, hate be retailed. 1597 J. King On Jonas (1618) 427 Hee shall retale their doings into their bosomes, and giue them their rewarde. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) III. 253 The abbot refused to retail his men out in such parcels. 1728 Pope Dunc. ii. 134 As the sage dame..By names of Toasts retails each batter'd jade. 1758 Johnson Idler No. 7 ¶11 How six morning and six evening writers might agree to retail their articles. |
| absol. 1777 Sheridan Sch. Scand. iv. i, We shall be all day retailing in this manner; do let us deal wholesale. |
c. intr. To be sold by retail.
| 1881 Lit. World (U.S.) 22 Oct. 375/1 Mr. Bartlett's compilation..retails for three dollars. 1897 Daily News 22 May 5/4 Turbot, brill, and halibut retail at 9d. per lb. |
2. To recount or tell over again; to relate in detail; to repeat to others.
| 1594 Shakes. Rich. III, iii. i. 77 Me thinkes the truth should liue from age to age, As 'twere retayl'd to all posteritie. Ibid. iv. iv. 335 To whom I will retaile my Conquest woone. 1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 797, I will not retail particularities. 1732 Berkeley Alciphr. iii. §2 He would retail to them part of a conversation he once heard. 1766 Goldsm. Vic. W. xvi, He could repeat all the observations that were retailed in the atmosphere of the play-houses. 1808 Scott Marm. v. vii, The licensed fool retail'd his jest. 1850 Kingsley Alt. Locke (1876) I. 14 The company seemed puzzled to whom he smilingly retailed my question. 1899 Kipling Stalky 193 They overtook Foxy, speeding down to retail the adventure to Keyte. |
| absol. 1621 Bp. R. Montagu Diatribæ 151 They say you haue neither read nor seene all that you cite, but are contented to retaile with your neighbours sometime. |
Hence reˈtailed ppl. a.
| 1611 Cotgr., Detaillé, retailed, sold by retaile. 1654–66 Earl of Orrery Parthen. (1676) 574 The Battel..merits a retailed Relation. 1811 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. III. xi. 225 It was neither in Elinor's power, nor in her wish, to rouse such feelings in another, by her retailed explanation, as had at first been called forth in herself. |