Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Wholesale \Whole"sale`\, n.
   Sale of goods by the piece or large quantity, as
   distinguished from retail.

   {By wholesale}, in the mass; in large quantities; without
      distinction or discrimination.

            Some, from vanity or envy, despise a valuable book,
            and throw contempt upon it by wholesale. --I. Watts.