Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Trade \Trade\, n. [Formerly, a path, OE. tred a footmark. See
   {Tread}, n. & v.]
   1. A track; a trail; a way; a path; also, passage; travel;
      resort. [Obs.]

            A postern with a blind wicket there was, A common
            trade to pass through Priam's house.  --Surrey.

            Hath tracted forth some salvage beastes trade.
                                                  --Spenser.

            Or, I'll be buried in the king's highway, Some way
            of common trade, where subjects' feet May hourly
            trample on their sovereign's head.    --Shak.

   2. Course; custom; practice; occupation; employment. [Obs.]
      ``The right trade of religion.'' --Udall.

            There those five sisters had continual trade.
                                                  --Spenser.

            Long did I love this lady, Long was my travel, long
            my trade to win her.                  --Massinger.

            Thy sin's not accidental but a trade. --Shak.

   3. Business of any kind; matter of mutual consideration;
      affair; dealing. [Obs.]

            Have you any further trade with us?   --Shak.

   4. Specifically: The act or business of exchanging
      commodities by barter, or by buying and selling for money;
      commerce; traffic; barter.

   Note: Trade comprehends every species of exchange or dealing,
         either in the produce of land, in manufactures, in
         bills, or in money; but it is chiefly used to denote
         the barter or purchase and sale of goods, wares, and
         merchandise, either by wholesale or retail. Trade is
         either foreign or domestic. Foreign trade consists in
         the exportation and importation of goods, or the
         exchange of the commodities of different countries.
         Domestic, or home, trade is the exchange, or buying and
         selling, of goods within a country. Trade is also by
         the wholesale, that is, by the package or in large
         quantities, generally to be sold again, or it is by
         retail, or in small parcels. The carrying trade is the
         business of transporting commodities from one country
         to another, or between places in the same country, by
         land or water.

   5. The business which a person has learned, and which he
      engages in, for procuring subsistence, or for profit;
      occupation; especially, mechanical employment as
      distinguished from the liberal arts, the learned
      professions, and agriculture; as, we speak of the trade of
      a smith, of a carpenter, or mason, but not now of the
      trade of a farmer, or a lawyer, or a physician.

            Accursed usury was all his trade.     --Spenser.

            The homely, slighted, shepherd's trade. --Milton.

            I will instruct thee in my trade.     --Shak.

   6. Instruments of any occupation. [Obs.]

            The house and household goods, his trade of war.
                                                  --Dryden.

   7. A company of men engaged in the same occupation; thus,
      booksellers and publishers speak of the customs of the
      trade, and are collectively designated as the trade.

   8. pl. The trade winds.

   9. Refuse or rubbish from a mine. [Prov. Eng.]

   Syn: Profession; occupation; office; calling; avocation;
        employment; commerce; dealing; traffic.

   {Board of trade}. See under {Board}.

   {Trade dollar}. See under {Dollar}.

   {Trade price}, the price at which goods are sold to members
      of the same trade, or by wholesale dealers to retailers.
      

   {Trade sale}, an auction by and for the trade, especially
      that of the booksellers.

   {Trade wind}, a wind in the torrid zone, and often a little
      beyond at, which blows from the same quarter throughout
      the year, except when affected by local causes; -- so
      called because of its usefulness to navigators, and hence
      to trade.

   Note: The general direction of the trade winds is from N. E.
         to S. W. on the north side of the equator, and from S.
         E. to N. W. on the south side of the equator. They are
         produced by the joint effect of the rotation of the
         earth and the movement of the air from the polar toward
         the equatorial regions, to supply the vacancy caused by
         heating, rarefaction, and consequent ascent of the air
         in the latter regions. The trade winds are principally
         limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one on
         each side of the equator, and separated by a belt which
         is characterized by calms or variable weather.

Trade \Trade\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Traded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Trading}.]
   1. To barter, or to buy and sell; to be engaged in the
      exchange, purchase, or sale of goods, wares, merchandise,
      or anything else; to traffic; to bargain; to carry on
      commerce as a business.

            A free port, where nations . . . resorted with their
            goods and traded.                     --Arbuthnot.

   2. To buy and sell or exchange property in a single instance.

   3. To have dealings; to be concerned or associated; --
      usually followed by with.

            How did you dare to trade and traffic with Macbeth?
                                                  --Shak.

Trade \Trade\, v. t.
   To sell or exchange in commerce; to barter.

         They traded the persons of men.          --Ezek. xxvii.
                                                  13.

         To dicker and to swop, to trade rifles and watches.
                                                  --Cooper.

Trade \Trade\, obs.
   imp. of {Tread}.

Source : WordNet®

trade
     v 1: engage in the trade of; "he is merchandising telephone sets"
          [syn: {merchandise}]
     2: turn in as payment or part payment for a purchase; "trade in
        an old car for a new one" [syn: {trade in}]
     3: be traded at a certain price or under certain conditions;
        "The stock traded around $20 a share"
     4: exchange or give (something) in exchange for [syn: {swap}, {swop},
         {switch}]
     5: do business; offer for sale as for one's livelihood; "She
        deals in gold"; "The brothers sell shoes" [syn: {deal}, {sell}]

trade
     adj : relating to or used in or intended for trade or commerce; "a
           trade fair"; "trade journals"; "trade goods" [syn: {trade(a)}]

trade
     n 1: the commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or
          international markets) of goods and services; "Venice
          was an important center of trade with the East"; "they
          are accused of conspiring to constrain trade"
     2: people who perform a particular kind of skilled work; "he
        represented the craft of brewers"; "as they say in the
        trade" [syn: {craft}]
     3: an equal exchange; "we had no money so we had to live by
        barter" [syn: {barter}, {swap}, {swop}]
     4: the skilled practice of a practical occupation; "he learned
        his trade as an apprentice" [syn: {craft}]
     5: a particular instance of buying or selling; "it was a
        package deal"; "I had no further trade with him"; "he's a
        master of the business deal" [syn: {deal}, {business deal}]
     6: the business given to a commercial establishment by its
        customers; "even before noon there was a considerable
        patronage" [syn: {patronage}]
     7: steady winds blowing from east to west above and below the
        equator; "they rode the trade winds going west" [syn: {trade
        wind}]