cheap

Less common meanings

6. 6
   unfairadjectiveslang

   Done in an underhanded or unfair manner.

   The boxer landed a cheap blow after the bell rang.

   Mocking his accent was a cheap way to score points.

   UsageCommon in a cheap trick, a cheap shot and a cheap move.

   Similardirty, underhanded, unfair, low

   Oppositefair, clean, honorable

   Note

   Players often call a tactic cheap when it seems unfair. A hidden trap that kills a player before they can react, for instance, gives them no fair chance. A common phrase is cheap trick. This use sits close to the "little worth" meaning, since a cheap win can feel hollow, but here the fault lies in the method rather than the result.

7. 7
   adjective

   Using little system time or few computing resources.

   The function is cheap enough to call inside a tight loop.

   Caching makes repeated lookups much cheaper.

   UsageOften cheap to + verb: cheap to compute, cheap enough to call in a loop.

   Similarinexpensive, lightweight

   Oppositeexpensive, costly

   Note

   Computing borrows the price word for costs measured in processor time and memory. An operation earns the word when it takes few resources, though even cheap calls can add up inside a tight loop. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Computing extends the low-cost meaning of cheap to expenditure of computing resources. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   nounobsoletecountable

   A bargain, or goods obtained at a low price.

   The sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe.

   c. 1597, William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,”

   Note

   A bargain, heard most clearly in the phrase good cheap, meaning "at a good price." In Shakespeare's The First Part of Henry the Fourth (written c. 1597), a character grumbles that the sack drunk at his expense would have bought lights "as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe." The joke depends on setting the bargain beside the dearest shop imaginable. Source

   Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

   • The historical noun cheap could mean a bargain or low price. en.wiktionary.org
   • Good cheap meant at a good price or cheaply. gutenberg.org
   • Shakespeare wrote the play around 1597. This is explicitly a composition date, rather than its first-publication year, 1598. rsc.org.uk
   • The quotation is accurate. Falstaff addresses Bardolph, complaining about the cost of his drinking; the wording juxtaposes good cheap and dearest, supporting the stated interpretation. folger.edu
9. 9
   nounobsoleteuncountable

   Lowness of price; the cheapness that comes from a plentiful supply of goods.

   Note

   The emphasis falls on plenty. The low price here is the result of abundant supply, a general condition of the market rather than a single good deal. That distinguishes it from the "bargain" noun, which names a particular purchase. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • Cheap had an obsolete noun sense encompassing cheapness, low prices and abundant supply. en.wiktionary.org
10. 10
    nounobsoleteuncountable

    The price or cost of goods.

    Note

    The "value" strand of Old English cēap shows up here as the price of a thing. It is obsolete, and price and cost now do all of its work. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 1 fact

    • The noun cheap derives from Old English cēap, whose meanings included value; cheap historically meant price. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To obtain something by paying for it; to purchase.

    Note

    Here the bargaining ends in a purchase, and the verb simply means "to buy." Old English ċēapian already had this meaning, so this is the verb at its most literal. It is now obsolete. Oddly, the same verb could also mean its opposite, "to sell". Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The verb cheap historically meant to buy or purchase. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English ċēapian already meant to buy. en.wiktionary.org
    • The verb cheap also historically meant to sell. en.wiktionary.org
12. 12
    verbobsoletetransitive

    To hand over goods in return for payment; to sell.

    Note

    The seller's side of the same verb: handing goods over for payment. Because the Old English verb covered buying, bargaining and trading at once, both parties to a sale could be said to cheap. Anyone meeting the word in an old text should check which party receives the money before deciding what it means. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The verb cheap could mean to sell. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Old English ancestor covered buying, bargaining and trading. en.wiktionary.org
    • Cheap could describe either buying or selling. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    nounobsoleteuncountable

    The activity of trade; buying, selling, and bartering goods.

    Note

    The oldest meaning in the family is buying and selling as an activity, the sense of Old English cēap "trade." Its near-equivalents chaffer and traffic show that it covered haggling as much as exchange. It worked as both a countable and an uncountable noun. Modern prose wants trade or commerce instead; this sense belongs only in historical pastiche. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • The noun descends from Old English cēap, which meant trade. en.wiktionary.org
    • The historical noun included trade and bargaining, with chaffer and traffic as equivalents. en.wiktionary.org
    • Cheap was both a countable and an uncountable noun. en.wiktionary.org
14. 14
    nounobsoletecountable

    A public place set aside for buying and selling; a marketplace.

    Note

    Here the trading is given a location: the place where buying and selling happen. Old English cēap already covered both the market and the commerce, so this meaning grew up side by side with the "trade" noun rather than after it. It is long obsolete; a modern writer needs market or marketplace. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts

    • The noun denotes the location where trading happens. en.wiktionary.org
    • Old English cēap had both commercial and marketplace meanings. lrc.la.utexas.edu
15. 15
    verbobsoleteintransitive

    To bargain or haggle over the price of goods.

    Note

    The verb has its own Old English ancestor, ċēapian, "to buy, bargain, trade," which goes back to a Germanic word for a trader. In this intransitive use the verb names the haggling itself, with no object: people simply cheaped with one another. Long obsolete, it was a regular verb, with the forms cheaps, cheaping and cheaped. Source

    Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The verb descends from Old English ċēapian, meaning to buy, bargain or trade. en.wiktionary.org
    • The Old English verb ultimately derives from a Germanic noun meaning trader. en.wiktionary.org
    • Cheap could mean bargain in an intransitive construction, without a direct object. en.wiktionary.org
    • The verb was regular, with cheaps, cheaping and cheaped as its inflected forms. en.wiktionary.org