Sell vs Offer - What's the difference?
sell | offer |
(intransitive) To transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money.
* Bible, (w) xix. 21
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (ergative) To be sold.
To promote a particular viewpoint.
(slang) To trick, cheat, or manipulate someone.
* (Charles Dickens)
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=January 12, author=Saj Chowdhury, work=BBC
, title= (professional wrestling, slang) To pretend that an opponent's blows or maneuvers are causing legitimate injury; to act.
An act of selling.
An easy task.
* 1922': What a '''sell for Lena! - (Katherine Mansfield), ''The Doll's House (Selected Stories, Oxford World's Classics paperback 2002, 354)
(colloquial, dated) An imposition, a cheat; a hoax.
* 1919 ,
(obsolete) A seat or stool.
(archaic) A saddle.
* 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , II.ii:
A proposal that has been made.
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4
, passage=One morning I had been driven to the precarious refuge afforded by the steps of the inn, after rejecting offers from the Celebrity to join him in a variety of amusements. But even here I was not free from interruption, for he was seated on a horse-block below me, playing with a fox terrier.}}
Something put forth, bid, proffered or tendered.
(label) An invitation to enter into a binding contract communicated to another party which contains terms sufficiently definite to create an enforceable contract if the other party accepts the invitation.
(lb) To present (something) to God as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.
*Bible, (w) xxix. 36
*:Thou shalt offer every day a bullock for a sin offering for atonement.
(lb) To place (something) in a position where it can be added to an existing mechanical assembly.
*2009 , Roger Williams, Triumph Tr2, 3, 3a, 4 & 4a
*:The next stage is to remove and replace the top part of the right side lip, and offer the lid to the car to ensure all the shapes and gaps are okay.
(lb) To propose or express one's willingness (to do something).
:
(lb) To present in words; to proffer; to make a proposal of; to suggest.
:
(lb) To place at someone’s disposal; to present (something) to be either accepted or turned down.
:
*
*:Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers,. Even such a boat as the Mount Vernon offered a total deck space so cramped as to leave secrecy or privacy well out of the question, even had the motley and democratic assemblage of passengers been disposed to accord either.
*{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)
, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (lb) To bid, as a price, reward, or wages.
:
(lb) To happen, to present itself.
*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
*:The occasion offers , and the youth complies.
*1749 , (John Cleland), (w) , Penguin 1985, p.64:
*:The opportunity, however, did not offer till next morning, for Phoebe did not come to bed till long after I was gone to sleep.
(lb) To make an attempt; used with at .
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:I will not offer at that I cannot master.
*(w, Roger L'Estrange) (1616-1704)
*:He would be offering at the shepherd's voice.
*(Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
*:without offering at any other remedy
(lb) To put in opposition to; to manifest in an offensive way; to threaten.
:
(used in combinations from phrasal verbs) agent noun of off
* {{quote-book
, year=2003
, author=James-Jason Gantt
, title=Losing Summer
, chapter=
As verbs the difference between sell and offer
is that sell is (intransitive) to transfer goods or provide services in exchange for money while offer is (lb) to present (something) to god as a gesture of worship, or for a sacrifice.As nouns the difference between sell and offer
is that sell is an act of selling or sell can be (obsolete) a seat or stool while offer is a proposal that has been made or offer can be (used in combinations from phrasal verbs) agent noun of off .sell
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) sellen, from (etyl) , Icelandic selja.Verb
- If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.
A new prescription, passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
Liverpool 2-1 Liverpool, passage=Raul Meireles was the victim of the home side's hustling on this occasion giving the ball away to the impressive David Vaughan who slipped in Taylor-Fletcher. The striker sold Daniel Agger with the best dummy of the night before placing his shot past keeper Pepe Reina.}}
Antonyms
* buyDerived terms
* sell-by date * sell-out * sell-outs * sell-through * sell down * sell down the river * sell ice to Eskimos * sell like hotcakes * sell one's soul * sell out * sell refrigerators to Eskimos * sell wolf ticketsQuotations
* To trick, or cheat someone. *Noun
(en noun)- This is going to be a tough sell .
- "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."
Etymology 2
From (etyl) selle, from (etyl) sella.Alternative forms
* selle (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)- (Fairfax)
- turning to that place, in which whyleare / He left his loftie steed with golden sell , / And goodly gorgeous barbes, him found not theare [...].
offer
English
(wikipedia offer)Alternative forms
* offre (obsolete)Etymology 1
From (etyl) offer, from (etyl) . See verb below.Noun
(en noun)Derived terms
* make an offerEtymology 2
From (etyl) offren, offrien, from (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)Our banks are out of control, passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic
Usage notes
* This is a catenative verb that takes the to -infinitive. SeeEtymology 3
Noun
(en noun)citation, isbn=t0595297498 9780595297498 , page=146 , passage=Once you finally discover yourself a dismember-er, a de-limber, a fucking head-cutter-offer , the most simple of tasks — enjoying a long walk outside, seeing a movie, conversing with a stranger in the library — all become prized and over-inflated moments of elation.}}