sell

Less common meanings

5. 5
   task of persuadingnounfigurativelycountable

   The effort of promoting an idea so that others will accept it.

   Persuading investors was a harder sell than the founders anticipated.

   Universal health care can be a difficult sell in some regions.

   UsageUsually with an adjective that rates it: a hard sell, a tough sell, an easy sell.

   Similarproposition

6. 6
   single tradenouncountable

   A single instance of transferring goods or services to a buyer for money.

   By the end of the day, the trader had logged forty buys and sells, most of them small.

   The broker confirmed the sell at noon, and the money reached her account two days later.

   UsageMostly in trading, beside buy: buys and sells. For ordinary shopping the noun is sale.

   Similarsale, deal, transaction

   Oppositebuy, purchase

7. 7
   noundatedcountable

   A hoax, cheat, or disappointment; something that leaves a person feeling tricked or robbed of dignity.

   What a sell for Lena!

   1922, Katherine Mansfield, The Doll's House

   "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."

   1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

   Similarletdown, disappointment, swindle, hoax, sham

   Note

   Katherine Mansfield's The Doll's House (1922) has "What a sell for Lena!" and Somerset Maugham's The Moon and Sixpence (1919) has "an awful sell." It names the letdown that leaves someone looking foolish, the noun counterpart of the slang verb for tricking. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 5 facts

   • Katherine Mansfield wrote The Doll's House, first published in 1922. en.wikipedia.org
   • The Doll's House contains the exact quotation "What a sell for Lena!", in the narration. en.wikisource.org
   • Somerset Maugham wrote The Moon and Sixpence, first published in 1919. en.wikipedia.org
   • The 1919 Heinemann edition is the first edition, rather than a later collected edition. openlibrary.org
   • The Moon and Sixpence contains "an awful sell", spoken by the first-person narrator to Strickland. gutenberg.org
8. 8
   nounarchaic

   A saddle; the seat placed on a horse's back for a rider.

   Note

   Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1590) gives a knight a "loftie steed with golden sell," and that is its natural habitat. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Edmund Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
   • The relevant first edition was published in 1590, as its title page states. en.wikisource.org
   • The poem describes a knight's horse using the exact quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   A seat or stool, especially a plain one used for sitting.

   Note

   Its spelling was unsettled. Edward Fairfax's 1600 translation of Tasso's Godfrey of Bulloigne has a tyrant frowning "from his loftie cell," which a modern reader might take for a room. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The noun had variant spellings. en.wiktionary.org
   • Edward Fairfax translated the work into English. upload.wikimedia.org
   • Fairfax's translation of Tasso was first published in 1600. en.wikipedia.org
   • The translation describes a tyrant frowning and contains the exact words quoted. upload.wikimedia.org
10. 10
    nounobsolete

    A rope, especially one used for tying up cattle, though it may refer to any kind of rope.

    Note

    It belonged to regional speech, mostly for the tether on cattle, and is now obsolete. A reader meeting it in a barn scene should think rope, not sale or saddle. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The English rope noun was regional and usually referred to a cattle tether. en.wiktionary.org
11. 11
    verbslang

    To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone, especially through persuasion.

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

    1884, Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
12. 12
    verbslang

    To pretend that an opponent's blows or moves are causing real injury, making a staged fight look convincing.
13. 13
    verbslang

    To let one's own team down in a shared effort, especially in a sport or game.