TRADE, n. [L. tracto, to handle, use, treat.]

1. The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter; or the business of buying and selling for money; commerce; traffick; barter. Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills or money. It is however chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is either foreign, or domestic or inland. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic or home trade is the exchange or buying and selling of goods within a country. Trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large quantities, or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is that of transporting commodities from one country to another by water.
2. The business which a person has learned and which he carries on for procuring subsistence or for profit; occupation; particularly, mechanical employment; distinguished from the liberal arts and learned professions, and from agriculture. Thus we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter or mason. But we never say, the trade of a farmer or of a lawyer or physician.
3. Business pursued; occupation; in contempt; as, piracy is their trade. Hunting their sport, and plund'ring was their trade. Dryden.
4. Instruments of any occupation. The shepherd bears / His house and household goods, his trade of war. Dryden.
5. Employment not manual; habitual exercise. Bacon.
6. Custom; habit; standing practice. Thy sin's not accidental, but a trade. Shak.
7. Men engaged in the same occupation. Thus booksellers speak of the customs of the trade.

1. To barter, or to buy and sell; to deal in the exchange, purchase or sale of goods, wares and merchandise, or any thing else; to traffick; to carry on commerce as a business. Thus American merchants trade with the English at London and at Liverpool; they trade with the French at Havre and Bordeaux, and they trade with Canada. The country shopkeepers trade with London merchants. Our banks are permitted to trade in bills of exchange.
2. To buy and sell or exchange property, in a single instance. Thus we say, a man treats with another for his farm, but can not trade with him. A. traded with B. for a horse or a number of sheep.
3. To act merely for money. How did you dare / To trade and traffick with Macbeth? Shak.
4. To have a trade wind. They on the trading flood ply tow'rd the pole. [Unusual.] Milton.

To sell or exchange in commerce. They traded the persons of men. Ezek. xxvii. [This, I apprehend, must be a mistake; at least it is not to be vindicated as a legitimate use of the verb.]

1. A track] a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel; resort.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   A postern with a blind wicket there was,
   A common trade to pass through Priam's house. Surrey.

   Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade. Spenser.

   Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway,
   Some way of common trade, where subjects' feet
   May hourly trample on their sovereign's head. Shak.

2. To barter, or to buy and sell] to be engaged in the exchange, purchase, or sale of goods, wares, merchandise, or anything else; to traffic; to bargain; to carry on commerce as a business.
   
   

   A free port, where nations . . . resorted with their goods and traded. Arbuthnot.

3. To sell or exchange in commerce; to barter.
   
   

   They traded the persons of men. Ezek. xxvii. 13.

   To dicker and to swop, to trade rifles and watches. Cooper.

4. imp. of Tread.
5. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment.
   
   
   [Obs.] "The right trade of religion." Udall.

   There those five sisters had continual trade. Spenser.

   Long did I love this lady,
   Long was my travel, long my trade to win her. Massinger.

   Thy sin's not accidental but a trade. Shak.

6. To buy and sell or exchange property in a single instance.
7. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration; affair; dealing.
   
   
   [Obs.]

   Have you any further trade with us? Shak.

8. To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; -- usually followed by with.
   
   

   How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth? Shak.

9. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money; commerce; traffic; barter.
   
   

   * Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing, either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in bills, or in money; but it is chiefly used to denote the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in the exportation and importation of goods, or the exchange of the commodities of different countries. Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and selling, of goods within a country. Trade is also by the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the business of transporting commodities from one country to another, or between places in the same country, by land or water.

10. The business which a person has learned, and which he engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit; occupation; especially, mechanical employment as distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of a smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.
    
    

    Accursed usury was all his trade. Spenser.

    The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade. Milton.

    I will instruct thee in my trade. Shak.

11. Instruments of any occupation.
    
    
    [Obs.]

    The house and household goods, his trade of war. Dryden.

12. A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus, booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.
13. The trade winds.
14. Refuse or rubbish from a mine.
    
    
    [Prov. Eng.]

    Syn. -- Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation; employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.

    Board of trade. See under Board. -- Trade dollar. See under Dollar. -- Trade price, the price at which goods are sold to members of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to retailers. -- Trade sale, an auction by and for the trade, especially that of the booksellers. -- Trade wind, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little beyond at, which blows from the same quarter throughout the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence to trade.

    * The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E. to S. W. on the north side of the equator, and from S. E. to N. W. on the south side of the equator. They are produced by the joint effect of the rotation of the earth and the movement of the air from the polar toward the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the air in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one on each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which is characterized by calms or variable weather.