Noun

(commodities)

(obsolete) Convenience; usefulness, suitability.

Anything movable (a good) that is bought and sold.

* 1995 , James G. Carrier, Gifts and Commodities: Exchange and Western Capitalism Since 1700 , p.122

If a key part of shopping is the conversion of anonymous commodities into possessions, shopping is a cultural as much as an economic activity.

* 2001 , Rachel Pain, Introducing Social Geographies , p.26

In human geography "commodities'" usually refers to goods and services which are bought and sold. The simplest ' commodities are those produced by the production system just before they are sold.

* 2005 , William Leiss, Botterill, Jacki, Social Communication in Advertising: Consumption in the Mediated Marketplace , p.307

*:* Referring to the work of Bourdieu, Zukin (2004,38) notes that shopping is much more than the purchase of commodities

Something useful or valuable.

* 2008 , Jan. 14th, Somerset County Gazette

And Slade said: "It really makes me sad that football club chairmen and boards seem to have lost that most precious commodity - patience. "Sam's sacking at Newcastle had, I suppose, been on the cards for a while, but it is really ridiculous to fire a manager after such a short time.

(obsolete) Self-interest; personal convenience or advantage.

*, I.40:

Shall we employ the intelligence Heaven hath bestowed upon us for our greatest good, to our ruine? repugning natures desseign and the universal order and vicissitude of things, which implieth that every man should use his instruments and meanes for his owne commoditie ?

*, NYRB, 2001, vol.1, p.321:

they commonly respect their own ends, commodity is the steer of all their action.

(economics) Raw materials, agricultural and other primary products as objects of large-scale trading in specialized exchanges.

The price of crude oil is determined in continuous trading between professional players in World's many commodities exchanges.

(marketing) Undifferentiated goods characterized by a low profit margin, as distinguished from branded products.

Although they were once in the forefront of consumer electronics, the calculators have become a mere commodity .

(Marxism) Anything which has both a use-value and an exchange-value.

Noun

(en-noun)

(uncountable) Any substance that can be consumed by living organisms, especially by eating, in order to sustain life.

* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)

, chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
  Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=72-3, magazine=(The Economist)

, title= A punch in the gut , passage=Mostly, the microbiome is beneficial. It helps with digestion and enables people to extract a lot more calories from their food than would otherwise be possible. Research over the past few years, however, has implicated it in diseases from atherosclerosis to asthma to autism.}}

(countable) A foodstuff.

(uncountable, figuratively) Anything that nourishes or sustains.

Mozart and Bach are food for my soul.

* (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Shakespeare)

This may prove food to my displeasure.

* (and other bibiographic particulars) (William Wordsworth)

In this moment there is life and food / For future years.