grocery
pronunciation
How to pronounce grocery in British English:
UK [ˈɡrəʊsəri]
How to pronounce grocery in American English:
US [ˈɡroʊsəri]
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- Noun:
- a marketplace where groceries are sold
- (usually plural) consumer goods sold by a grocer
Word Origin
- grocery (n.)
- mid-15c., "goods sold by a grocer;" earlier the name of the Grocer's Hall in London (early 15c.), from Old French grosserie, from grossier "wholesale merchant" (see grocer). Meaning "a grocer's shop" is by 1803, especially in American English, where its use in that sense restricted the "goods sold by a grocer" meaning to the plural, groceries, by mid-19c. GROCERY. A grocer's shop. This word is not in the English dictionaries except in the sense of grocer's ware, such as tea, sugar, spice, etc.; in which sense we also use it in the plural. [Bartlett, "Dictionary of Americanisms," 1859] Self-service groceries were a novelty in 1913 when a Montana, U.S., firm copyrighted the word groceteria (with the ending from cafeteria used in an un-etymological sense) to name them. The term existed through the 1920s.
Example
- 1. Use coupons when you do your regular grocery shopping .
- 2. Many americans are still facing sticker shock in the grocery aisle .
- 3. He got a job and now he owns a small grocery in town .
- 4. Families drop off their bottles in the reverse vending machine on their way into the grocery store .
- 5. Grocery chains safeway inc. and kroger have said they 'll pass supplier increases along to consumers .