| 释义 |
wholesale, n., a., adv.|ˈhəʊlseɪl|
I.
1. Orig. two words, whole a. and sale n.2, in phr. by whole sale (also † by the wholesale or † in whole sale), now usually ellipt. as adv., qualifying sell, buy, or words of similar meaning: In large quantities, in gross (as opposed to by retail).
a1417York Memorandum Bk. (Surtees) I. 183 To sell any girdeles by retaile or holesale. 1579Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love 41 Those men which sell by whole sale haue a quicker dispatch. 1593Nashe Christ's T. 53 If seates of iustice were to be solde for money, wee haue them amongst vs that would buy them vp by the whole sale. 1617Moryson Itin. iii. 95 Great Merchants disdaine to sell, otherwise then by whole sale. 1731–2Norwich Merc. 19–26 Feb. 3/2 William Steele..selleth the following Goods either by Wholesale or Retail. 1824Southey Sir T. More (1829) I. 135 Purchasing articles for the community in wholesale. 1866Chamb. Encycl. VIII. 691/1 These pegged goods [sc. shoes] are disposed of wholesale in boxes. 1883Law Times Rep. 9 Feb. 727/1 Inviting the public to come and buy, both wholesale and retail.
2. fig. (with construction as in 1). In a large way, in large numbers or amount, in abundance, profusely, extensively, indiscriminately.
1601Sir W. Cornwallis Ess. ii. xxix. Q 7, We whose narrow roomes are not able to traffick with vertue by the whole-sale but by retayle. 1613Purchas Pilgrimage vi. vi. 489 Africanus, from whose Store-house Eusebius tooke his Chronicle,..almost by wholesale. a1677Barrow Serm. Wks. 1716 I. 330 St. Cyprian who was liberal by wholesale, bestowing all at once, a fair estate on God and the poor. 1741Watts Improv. Mind i. v. (1786) 108 They despise a valuable book, and..throw contempt upon it by wholesale. 1837Blackw. Mag. XLII. 112 The wild Bashkirs..slaughtered them by wholesale. 1869Gladstone Juv. Mundi iii. 104 Homer never allows distinguished Greeks to fall wholesale by the Trojan sword. 1871Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xx. 503 The Norman version makes him overthrow Welsh Kings by wholesale.
†3. Sale in gross; fig. dealing in a large way or in big quantities; indiscriminate or unlimited disposal (opp. to retail). Obs.
1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 166 Take them out of their tracke, put them from their whole-sale, and turne them to retayle... I will not giue a button for the best of them. 1667Decay Chr. Piety i. §6 To which his ταυτα παντα σοι δωσω all this will I give (could he make such a whole-sale) can bear no proportion. 1788Picken Poems 57 Merchants shops, For halesale or retailin'.
II. attrib. or adj.
4. a. Selling a commodity by wholesale.
c1645in Archaeologia LII. 135 A hosyer & whole saleman for narrow wares. 1711Addison Spect. No. 64 ⁋3 A wholesale Dealer in Silks and Ribbons. 1724De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. I. 124 It being frequent for the London Wholesale Men to carry back Orders from their Dealers. 1773Life N. Frowde 5 Mr. John Neville, a Wholesale ironmonger. 1812Sir J. Sinclair Syst. Husb. Scot. ii. 22 The farmer at a distance from markets..may be compared..to a wholesale merchant. 1876F. S. Williams Midl. Railw. 637 Drugs from the wholesale houses for country druggists.
b. Pertaining to sale in gross; used for a commodity sold by wholesale.
1724De Foe Tour Gt. Brit. i. 130 When the great Hurry of Wholesale Business begins to be over. 1848Dickens Dombey iv, Pickles..in great wholesale jars. 1867J. Laing Theory of Business ii. 15 The retail price of ‘13’, we take to mean that shopkeepers received this amount of money for their stocks; and the wholesale price of ‘11’, shows that they pay to warehousemen ‘2’ less than they received. 1896L. L. Price Money vi. 174 Greater friction prevails in the retail than in the wholesale market. 1902Builder 5 Apr. p. xix, Clerk and Traveller required for a Wholesale Country Business.
c. As n., a wholesale dealer or organization.
1851,1884[see retail n.1 (and a.) 3]. 1928Daily Express 29 May 7/4 The ability of the wholesales to adopt methods of mass production..must be lessened.
5. fig. Having an extensive application; unlimited or indiscriminate in range; doing something, or done, largely, profusely, or in great quantities.
1642Fuller Holy & Prof. St. ii. xvii. 116 But how long shall I be retailing out rules to this Merchant?.. Take our Saviours whole-sale rule, Whatsoever ye would have men do unto you, do you unto them. 1664Butler Hud. ii. iii. 809 Those whole-sale Criticks, that..cry down all Philosophy. 1838Lytton Leila i. v, The Moors had treated this unhappy people with a wholesale and relentless barbarity. 1842S. Lover Handy Andy xlvii, Slaughtering lions in a wholesale way like rabbits. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes iii, I am by no means a wholesale admirer of our legal solemnities. 1843Scudamore Gräfenberg 27 It is a sort of wholesale theory, and equally serves for all persons, and for every known disorder. 1863H. Cox Instit. i. vii. 73 A wholesale creation of peers for the purpose of obtaining a majority. 1880Mrs. E. Lynn Linton Rebel of Family xxii, ‘Would you go to the colonies with the man you loved?’.. ‘I would go into the desert!’ she answered in her passionate wholesale way.
Hence ˈwholesale v. trans., to sell wholesale (in quot. intr. for pass.); also absol.; hence ˈwholesaling vbl. n. and ppl. a.; ˈwholesalely adv., in a wholesale way, extensively, profusely; ˈwholesaler, one who sells goods wholesale (to retailers), a wholesale dealer; ˈwholesaleness, wholesale quality, profuseness, indiscriminateness.
1800M. L. Weems Let. 17 Dec. in M. L. Weems: Wks. & Ways (1929) II. 152 But for this I wd instantly *wholesale my books & quit the business forever. 1837Dickens in Bentley's Misc. Oct. 413 We have been prevailed upon to allow this number of our Miscellany to be retailed to the public, or wholesaled to the trade, without any advance upon our usual price. 1881Oregon State Jrnl. 1 Jan. 7 We are prepared to Wholesale and Retail Cheaper than any place in this city. 1885Harper's Mag. Jan. 289/1 English ladies' shoes, wholesaling at $1.50 per pair. 1962R. B. Fuller Epic Poem on Industrialization 134 ‘Science News Service’ An industrial syndicate Wholesaling to publishers Reported thirty thousand technical innovations. 1972Vogue Jan. 12/2 They wholesale to many shops.
1984Listener 23 Feb. 9/2 There is the jobber, wholesaling shares and making money out of the margin. 1906S. E. Sparling Introd. Business Organization xi. 254 In the trade jobbing is virtually synonymous with *wholesaling. 1926N. S. B. Gras in Crump & Jacob Legacy of Middle Ages 440 Although many merchants might prefer the wholesale trade, they were not allowed to be exclusively wholesaling merchants. 1975‘E. Lathen’ By Hook or by Crook xiv. 137 Gregory takes care of the wholesaling in this country. Paul runs the retail stores. 1982Electr. Wholesaler Sept. 40/1 He started a general electrical wholesaling firm.
1887J. D. Hooker in Life (1918) II. 295 The supposed facts..are *wholesalely unreliable.
1892Graphic 24 Dec. 758/2 The very *wholesaleness of the present charges of corruption.
1857Tooke & Newmarch Hist. Prices V. 375 Nor..is it necessary..that the whole quantity..should be in the hands, either of the *wholesalers or the retailers. 1888E. Bellamy Looking Backward 146 The manufacturer sold to the wholesaler. 1907Times 2 Oct. 3/6 In the bakery trade..between the wholesaler and retailer the expression ‘bushel’..was a measure of weight. |