goods

1. 1
   productsnounplural

   Items that are produced, then traded, bought or sold, and finally consumed by users.

   Manufactured goods accounted for most of the country's exports last year.

   Consumers pay sales tax on most goods they purchase.

   UsageTakes are, not is: the goods are shipped. Most often in phrases like consumer goods and manufactured goods.

   Similarmerchandise, products, commodities, wares

2. 2
   belongingsnoun

   The movable possessions that belong to someone, such as furniture, clothing, or tools.

   In her will she left all her household goods to her niece.

   He gave away his worldly goods and moved into a one-room cabin in the woods.

   UsageMost often in set phrases: household goods, worldly goods, goods and chattels.

   Similarbelongings, possessions, property, effects

   Note

   The owner's side of the word: where the trading meaning is about things made to be sold, this one is about what someone already has.

3. 3
   cargonounUKplural

   Cargo carried by a transport service, as distinct from passengers.

   The depot handles goods bound for ports across the country.

   British railways once moved vast quantities of goods overnight to the cities.

   UsageMostly in compounds: goods train, goods yard, goods wagon. American English usually says freight.

   Similarfreight, cargo

   Note

   British transport sorts what it carries into two kinds, people and goods. A line or depot handles one, the other or both. The word is plural only here and turns up mostly in compounds such as goods train, goods yard and goods wagon. American English usually says freight.

4. 4
   the real thingnouncolloquialplural

   Something genuine, important, or revealing, especially evidence of wrongdoing or the ability or results expected.

   After months of digging through old records, the reporter finally had the goods on the city's crooked contractor.

   The rookie quarterback clearly has talent, but he still has to deliver the goods in a big game.

   UsageUsually the goods, in deliver the goods (do what was promised) and have the goods on someone (have evidence of their wrongdoing).

   Similarevidence, proof

5. 5
   worthwhile thingsnoun

   Plural of good.

   Philosophers debate which goods are worth pursuing for their own sake.

   Liberty and justice are among the goods a society should protect.

   UsageMostly in ethics and philosophy, as in competing goods or human goods; in everyday talk, goods usually means things for sale.

   Note

   A plural with two lives. One counts separate goods, like the liberty and justice a philosopher weighs. The other counts the merchant's wares, which the commercial meaning covers. Good in its moral sense is normally uncountable, so making it plural turns goodness into distinct things that can be ranked against each other.

6. 6
   freight trainnounUKpluralabbreviationellipsis

   Ellipsis of goods train. British: a freight train.

   The morning goods carried coal from the colliery down to the port.

   We waited at the level crossing while a long goods rumbled past, its wagons heaped with coal.

   UsageMeans one train, so it takes a and a singular verb: a goods from York, the goods was late.

   Note

   Railway shorthand that simply drops the word train. Modern Railways in 1962 reports a locomotive arriving "on a Class H goods from York." It belongs to the working vocabulary of signalmen and enthusiasts, alongside the compounds built on the freight sense.

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