Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - shop

(shops, shopping, shopped) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. A shop is a building or part of a building where things are sold. (mainly BRIT; in AM, usually use store) ...health food shops. ...a record shop... It’s not available in the shops. = store N-COUNT 2. When you shop, you go to shops and buy things. He always shopped at the Co-op. ...some advice that’s worth bearing in mind when shopping for a new carpet. ...customers who shop once a week. VERB: V prep/adv, V prep/adv, V • shopper (shoppers) ...crowds of Christmas shoppers. N-COUNT 3. You can refer to a place where a particular service is offered as a particular type of shop. ...the barber shop where Rodney sometimes had his hair cut. ...your local video shop. N-COUNT: n N 4. If you shop someone, you report them to the police for doing something illegal. (BRIT INFORMAL) His father was so disgusted to discover his son was dealing drugs he shopped him to police... Fraudsters are often shopped by honest friends and neighbours. VERB: V n to n, be V-ed 5. see also shopping, chip shop, coffee shop, corner shop, paper shop, pawn shop, print shop, sex shop, tea shop, talking shop, thrift shop 6. If something is happening all over the shop, it is happening in many different places or throughout a wide area. (BRIT INFORMAL) This gave them the freedom to make trouble all over the shop without fear of retribution. PHRASE: PHR after v 7. If you set up shop, you start a business. He set up shop as an independent PR consultant... PHRASE: V inflects 8. If you say that people are talking shop, you mean that they are talking about their work, and this is boring for other people who do not do the same work. If you hang around with colleagues all the time you just end up talking shop. PHRASE: V inflects