From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Market \Mar"ket\, n. [Akin to D. markt, OHG. mark[=a]t,
merk[=a]t, G. markt; all fr.L. mercatus trade, market place,
fr. mercari, p. p. mercatus, to trade, traffic, merx, mercis,
ware, merchandise, prob. akin to merere to deserve, gain,
acquire: cf. F. march['e]. See {Merit}, and cf. {Merchant},
{Mart}.]
1. A meeting together of people, at a stated time and place,
for the purpose of buying and selling (as cattle,
provisions, wares, etc.) by private purchase and sale, and
not by auction; as, a market is held in the town every
week; a farmers' market.
[1913 Webster]
He is wit's peddler; and retails his wares
At wakes, and wassails, meetings, markets, fairs.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
Three women and a goose make a market. --Old Saying.
[1913 Webster]
2. A public place (as an open space in a town) or a large
building, where a market is held; a market place or market
house; esp., a place where provisions are sold.
[1913 Webster]
There is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool.
--John v. 2.
[1913 Webster]
3. An opportunity for selling or buying anything; demand, as
shown by price offered or obtainable; as, to find a market
for one's wares; there is no market for woolen cloths in
that region; India is a market for English goods; there
are none for sale on the market; the best price on the
market.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
There is a third thing to be considered: how a
market can be created for produce, or how production
can be limited to the capacities of the market. --J.
S. Mill.
[1913 Webster]
4. Exchange, or purchase and sale; traffic; as, a dull
market; a slow market.
[1913 Webster]
5. The price for which a thing is sold in a market; market
price. Hence: Value; worth.
[1913 Webster]
What is a man
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
6. (Eng. Law) The privelege granted to a town of having a
public market.
[1913 Webster]
7. A specified group of potential buyers, or a region in
which goods may be sold; a town, region, or country, where
the demand exists; as, the under-30 market; the New Jersey
market.
[PJC]
Note: Market is often used adjectively, or in forming
compounds of obvious meaning; as, market basket, market
day, market folk, market house, marketman, market
place, market price, market rate, market wagon, market
woman, and the like.
[1913 Webster]
{Market beater}, a swaggering bully; a noisy braggart. [Obs.]
--Chaucer.
{Market bell}, a bell rung to give notice that buying and
selling in a market may begin. [Eng.] --Shak.
{Market cross}, a cross set up where a market is held.
--Shak.
{Market garden}, a garden in which vegetables are raised for
market.
{Market gardening}, the raising of vegetables for market.
{Market place}, an open square or place in a town where
markets or public sales are held.
{Market town}, a town that has the privilege of a stated
public market.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
market place
n 1: an area in a town where a public mercantile establishment
is set up [syn: {marketplace}, {market place}, {mart},
{market}]
2: the world of commercial activity where goods and services are
bought and sold; "without competition there would be no
market"; "they were driven from the marketplace" [syn:
{market}, {marketplace}, {market place}]
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