the business of buying and selling or bartering commodities
Trade was brisk
(treated as sing. or pl) the people or group of firms engaged in a particular business or industry
the shoe trade
(treated as sing. or pl) a firm's customers; a clientele
the business or work in which one engages regularly; an occupation
an occupation requiring manual or mechanical skill; a craft
dated, derog commerce as opposed to the liberal professions or landed property
dated, derog the social group deriving its income from commerce
= trade wind
chiefly NAmer a transaction, or an exchange of property usu without the involvement of money
Middle English from early Low German, literally ‘track’. The orig senses in English were ‘course’, ‘track’, ‘way’; hence ‘way of life or of making a living’