rummage salen.adj.
/ˈrʌmɪdʒ seɪl/, U.S. /ˈrəmədʒ ˌseɪl/ A. n.
1. A sale of rummage goods. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > a public sale > [noun] > other types of sale
rummage sale1756
handsale1766
trade sale1774
sheriff's sale1798
private treaty1858
asset sale1921
pre-sale1938
garage sale1966
tag sale1966
yard sale1976
car boot1995
1756 Public Advertiser 23 Nov. (advt.) The Buyers of the Goods in the Rummage Sale the 21st of October last, are to clear their Lots before the 24th of November inst. or their Deposit Money will be forfeited.
1809 Act 49 Geo. III. Stat. xxi. c. 116 Whenever any Sale, commonly called a Rummage Sale..shall be made under the Orders of the Commissioners of Customs and Port Duties.
1887 Times 30 Nov. 1 Rummage Sale, by order of the proprietors of Wilson's Wharf.
1903 F. Alcock Trade & Trav. in S. Amer. xii. 249 It appeared quite natural that he should decline to pay the duty..and the cases were therefore sent into the Customs depôt to be sold at the next rummage sale.
2. Chiefly North American. A jumble sale. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > a public sale > [noun] > bazaar, jumble sale, or sale of work
bazaar1807
fair1826
fête1830
festival1843
church fair1844
sale of work1859
rummage sale1890
jumble-sale1898
jumble1931
mini-market1976
1890 Stratford on Avon Herald 19 Dec. 3/1 A novel but most successful experiment was tried by way of what was termed a ‘rummage sale’.
1895 Notes & Queries 8th Ser. 8 308 It is almost impossible to dispose of gentlemen's hats at rummage sales.
1922 J. Joyce Ulysses iii. xviii. [Penelope] 704 Rummage sale a lot of trash.
1977 Time 24 Oct. 48/3 The Road shows were rummage sales of stuff out of vaudeville, burlesque—marvelously shoddy masterpieces of farce and fantasy, stitched together with clichés and ad libs.
2004 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 1 Mar. d6/3 Almost every Alaska high school team, from soccer to softball, runs raffles, bake and rummage sales and silent auctions.
B. adj.
Relating to or characteristic of a rummage sale (sense A. 2); cheap, shabby.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > a public sale > [adjective] > bazaar, jumble sale, or sale of work
rummage sale1905
bring-and-buy1932
1905 Westm. Rev. July 91 The supplies were knocked down at rummage sale prices.
1910 M. Beerbohm Let. 15 Nov. (1964) 192 It will be a different sort of exhibition..: a retrospective and rummage-sale affair.
1973 Black World Sept. 62 Your black skin Loose as a rummage sale coat.
1985 G. C. Chesbro Beasts of Valhalla (1987) i. i. 3 It was an expensive funeral,..in a bargain basement family plot inside a rummage sale cemetery.
1998 Backpacker June 5 The other shoulders a bookbag of Sterno, rummage sale clothing, and instant breakfasts.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.adj.1756