sell

verb

1. (ditransitive, intransitive, transitive)To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.

   “She sold her old car very quickly.”

   “I'll sell you three books for a hundred dollars.”

   “Sorry, I'm not prepared to sell.”

   “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.”

   “No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.”

2. (ergative)To be sold.

   “This old stock will never sell.”

   “The corn sold for a good price.”

3. (transitive)To promote (a product or service) although not being paid in any direct way or at all.

   “Howard: You're gonna feel terrible when I'm in a wheelchair. Which, by the way, would fit easily in the back of this award-winning minivan. Bernadette: Fine, we'll go to the E.R. Just stop selling me on the van. Howard: You're right. It sells itself.”

4. (transitive)To promote (a particular viewpoint).

   “My boss is very old-fashioned and I'm having a lot of trouble selling the idea of working at home occasionally.”

5. (transitive)To betray for money or other things.
6. (slang, transitive)To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.

   “Then weaues Other crosse-plots New tricks for safety, are sought; They thriue: When, bold, Each tempt's th'other againe, and all are sold.”

   “House was jammed again that night, and we sold this crowd the same way.”

   “Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.”

7. (slang, transitive)To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
8. (Australia, intransitive, slang)To throw under the bus; to let down one's own team in an endeavour, especially in a sport or a game.

   “He's selling!”

   “He really sold in that match.”

noun

1. An act of selling; sale.

   “Now the easiest sell in traveldom is made even easier.”

2. (broadly, figuratively)The promotion of an idea for acceptance.

   “This is going to be a tough sell.”

3. An easy task.
4. (colloquial, dated)An imposition, a cheat; a hoax; a disappointment; anything occasioning a loss of pride or dignity.

   “"Of course a miracle may happen, and you may be a great painter, but you must confess the chances are a million to one against it. It'll be an awful sell if at the end you have to acknowledge you've made a hash of it."”

   “What a sell for Lena!”

5. (obsolete)A seat or stool.

   “The tyrant proud frown’d from his loftie cell, [...].”

6. (archaic)A saddle.

   “turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell, / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].”

   “Then she gave unto him a horse so good, And therewith a new sell; "And never shalt thou the way inquire, Thy horse will find it well."”

7. (obsolete, regional)A rope (usually for tying up cattle, but can also mean any sort of rope).

   “He picked up the sell from the straw-strewn barn-floor, snelly sneaked up behind her and sleekly slung it around her swire while scryingː "dee, dee ye fooking quhoreǃ".”

name

1. A surname.