pound shopn.adj.
/ˈpaʊnd ʃɒp/, U.S. /ˈpaʊnd ˌʃɑp/ A. n.
A shop that sells a wide range of goods at low prices, typically one pound or less.Now chiefly British, but in early use chiefly in Irish contexts. In North American use the equivalent term is dollar store n.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trading place > place where retail transactions made > [noun] > shop > other types of shop
show shop1787
lock-up shop1795
cash-store1811
boat shop1813
slaughter shop1841
slaughterhouse1851
ticket-shop1851
charity shop1853
magic shop1853
company store1872
Army and Navy1878
five-and-ten1880
farthing-shop1889
funeral home1895
goodwill1916
shop-within-(a)-shop1916
cash and carry1917
Piggly Wiggly1917
poverty shop1948
discount house1949
anchor1960
box store1976
mom-and-pop1976
op shop1978
duty-free1980
pound shop1983
pop-up2000
1983 H. Tracy Heart of Eng. vi. 66 I had gone to the Pound shop to lay in a bottle or two for the purposes of celebration.
1987 Cork Examiner 7 Mar. (Weekend Examiner) 1/4 The company will start a new ‘upmarket pound shop’, business, ABC Discount Superstore, there next week.
2004 Independent (Compact ed.) 23 Mar. (Review section) 6/1 I had no money to go anywhere and I was in the pound shop and there was acrylic at £1 a ball.
2019 R. Curtis We met in December i. 14 Hideous, aren't they?.. They're [sc. baubles] from the pound shop so I just went to town a bit. If you can't be tacky at Christmas, when can you?
B. adj.
Of the type or quality found in a pound shop; cut-price; (derogatory) cheap or inferior, second-rate.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior thing > [adjective]
salec1299
bastarda1348
sorry1372
slight1393
shrewd1426
singlec1449
backc1450
soberc1450
lesser1464
silly?a1500
starven1546
mockado1577
subaltern1578
bastardly1583
wooden1592
starved1604
perishing1605
starveling1611
minor1612
starvy1647
potsherd1655
low1727
la-la1800
waif1824
lathen1843
one-eyed1843
snide1859
bobbery1873
jerkwater1877
low-grade1878
shoddy1882
tinhorn1886
jerk1893
cheapie1898
shaganappi1900
buckeye1906
reach-me-down1907
pissy1922
crappy1928
cruddy1935
el cheapo1967
pound shop1989
society > trade and finance > merchandise > [adjective] > condition or quality of goods
middling1550
pedlaryc1555
shop-rid1620
shopworn1666
loyal1690
braided1721
country-damaged1847
shop-soiled1865
shoddy1882
as new1898
low-end1899
service weight1919
designer1940
high-end1956
loaded1968
market-leading1972
pound shop1989
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > mediocrity > [adjective] > second- or third-rate
second-rate1669
third-rate1814
secondary1827
bum1878
low-grade1878
off-brand1929
pound shop1989
society > trade and finance > monetary value > price > low price or rate > [adjective] > cheap
light?a1400
vile?1490
cheap1517
low-prized1600
druggish1701
popular1830
low-priced1842
underpriced1861
bargain basement1899
low-budget1918
Woolworth1931
Woolworthian1933
pipe-rack1956
budget1958
cheapo1967
pound shop1989
1989 Kerryman (County Kerry) 6 Oct. 4/3 Leather jackets and Waterford Glass. Only the best. No pound shop stuff.
1993 Southern Star (County Cork, Ireland) 25 Dec. 5/6 The presents they give one another are Pound Shop jobs, such as wooden clothes pegs.
1998 Irish Times 19 Sept. (Weekend section) 14/1 The romance of Malta is a subtle thing. I look for it in sunsets, and in seas so sharply coloured they could pass for pound-shop emeralds.
2020 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 2 July 18 There we were thinking he was a pound-shop Elon Musk. Turns out he's a bona fide David Brent.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, December 2020; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1983