selling

1. 1
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of sell.

   The company is selling its overseas branches to cut costs.

   Selling door to door taught him patience and a thick skin.

   Note

   Beyond the ordinary progressive, this form carries the verb's ergative use, in which the thing sold becomes the subject: tickets are selling fast, the house isn't selling. The same spelling also serves the figurative senses, such as selling a viewpoint or selling a friend for gain. In slang, selling someone means tricking them, so the object and context decide which meaning is in play.

   Tickets for the final are selling fast.

   The house has been on the market for months and still isn't selling.

2. 2
   noununcountable

   The act of exchanging goods or services for money; the carrying out of a sale.

   The selling of the family business marked the end of an era.

   Online selling has transformed how small shops reach their customers.

   Similarsale, retailing, trading

   Oppositebuying, purchasing

   Note

   It works both as a mass noun and as a count noun. Usually it names the activity as a whole, as in online selling or the selling of a business. It also takes a plural, sellings, for separate transactions, most naturally paired as buyings and sellings. As a true noun it takes articles and an of-phrase (the selling of the house). That separates it from the verb's -ing form, which takes a direct object (selling the house).

3. 3
   noununcountable

   The skill of persuading people to buy goods or services; ability at salesmanship.

   His selling was sharp enough to close the deal in minutes.

   Great selling depends on reading the customer's mood and timing the offer.

   Similarsalesmanship, persuasion

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