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sale

noun
\ ˈsāl How to pronounce sale (audio) \

Definition of sale

 (Entry 1 of 2)

1 : the act of selling specifically : the transfer of ownership of and title to property from one person to another for a price
2a : opportunity of selling or being sold : demand
b : distribution by selling
3 : public disposal to the highest bidder : auction
4 : a selling of goods at bargain prices

5 sales plural

a : operations and activities involved in promoting and selling goods or services vice president in charge of sales
b : gross receipts
for sale
: available for purchase
on sale
1 : for sale
2 : available for purchase at a reduced price

Salé

geographical name
Sa·​lé | \ sa-ˈlā How to pronounce Salé (audio) \
variants: or chiefly formerly Sallee \ ˈsa-​lē How to pronounce Sallee (audio) \ or Arabic Sla \ ˈslä How to pronounce Sla (audio) \

Definition of Salé (Entry 2 of 2)

city and port at the mouth of a river in northwestern Morocco; a northern suburb of Rabat area population 849,000
Synonyms Example Sentences Learn More about sale

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Synonyms for sale

Synonyms: Noun

deal, trade, transaction

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Examples of sale in a Sentence

Noun

 They profited from the sale of the house. Sales are up by $6,000 this month. The company made over one million dollars in sales this quarter. The store is having a spring sale. Everything in the store will be 15 percent off during the sale. There is a sale on flights between New York and Paris. He has a job in sales. The department is in charge of sales and marketing.
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Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

 Dan also worked for the Boston Celtics for ten years in charge of ticket sales at the Hartford Civic Center. — courant.com, "Daniel F. Jones," 11 Sep. 2019 Only the iPhone, which accounts for 56% of sales, is more important to Apple. — Paul R. La Monica, CNN, "Apple is unveiling the iPhone 11, but this what investors should really care about," 10 Sep. 2019 And according to Nielsen data, White Claw accounts for more than half of seltzer sales. — oregonlive, "White Claw reaches peak hysteria with rationing, destroys boozy gender divide," 10 Sep. 2019 By 2023, 5G phones will grow to 28 percent of handset sales. — San Diego Union-Tribune, "Smartphone sales remain weak as consumer hold onto devices longer, wait for 5G," 9 Sep. 2019 Outdoor kitchens, linear fireplaces and home theaters are among the luxurious features in some of this week's most expensive home sales in metro Phoenix. — Ebony Day, azcentral, "5 Paradise Valley homes sell for more than $2M," 9 Sep. 2019 The New Yorker may earn a portion of sales from products and services that are purchased through links on our site as part of our affiliate partnerships with retailers. — Erika Sjule, The New Yorker, "Thank-You Battle," 8 Sep. 2019 Units are comprised of traditional album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA). — Keith Caulfield, Billboard, "Lizzo's 'Cuz I Love You' Album Hits Top 5 on Billboard 200 Chart," 5 Sep. 2019 While Hilcorp’s official view of North Slope gas sales is unclear, the company should also be getting a leg up in the quest for the untapped oil many believe is below the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge coastal plain. — Elwood Brehmer, Anchorage Daily News, "BP sale to Hilcorp has impacts well beyond Prudhoe Bay," 5 Sep. 2019

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sale.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

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First Known Use of sale

Noun

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

History and Etymology for sale

Noun

Middle English, from Old English sala; akin to Old High German sala transfer, Old English sellan to sell — more at sell

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More Definitions for sale

sale

noun

Financial Definition of sale

What It Is

A sale is the transfer of title to a piece of property or performance of a service in return for compensation. In the retail world, a sale means a temporary price discount on certain items.

How It Works

Let's say John Doe is cleaning out his garage and needs to get rid of his lawnmower. He calls his neighbor, Jane Smith, to see if she wants it. She offers him $50 for the mower. John accepts, giving her the lawnmower in return for the $50. This transaction is a sale.

Why It Matters

Sales are one of the basic concepts of commerce. In the legal world, several conditions must exist for a sale to take place. For example, the person selling the item or service must be the legal owner of the item or service in the first place. The sale has to involve the transfer of money or other items (as in bartering), and the parties must agree on the thing being sold. The two parties must enter the transaction willingly (i.e., neither of them can be "forced into" the transaction). Often, a bill of sale, also called a receipt, formally transfers the ownership of the item to the buyer.

Source: Investing Answers

short sale

noun

Financial Definition of short sale

What It Is

A short sale is a three-step trading strategy that seeks to capitalize on an anticipated decline in the price of a security.

How It Works

First, arrangements are made to borrow shares of the security, typically from a broker. Next, the investor will sell the shares immediately in the open market with the intention of buying them back at some point in the future. Finally, to complete the cycle, at a later date he/she will repurchase the shares (hopefully at a lower price) and will return them to the lender. In the end, the investor will pocket the difference if the share price falls, but will of course incur a loss if it rises.

Let's look at an example:

Mr. Johnson firmly believes that ABC Corp. stock is due to fall, so he calls his broker to sell short 100 shares of the company.

In this example, we will assume that Mr. Johnson places the trade, which is immediately executed, to sell short 100 shares of ABC Corp. at $25.00 per share. He will receive a cash inflow of $2,500 from this transaction.

Now let's assume that two weeks later, the price has indeed dropped, and that Mr. Johnson is able to buy back the shares (known as covering a short position) for $20.00 per share. In this transaction, he'll have to spend $2,000 to repurchase the shares. His profit on the trade will be $500 ($2,500 initial cash inflow minus an eventual $2,000 cash outflow). The other way to look at it is that he will have earned $5 per share on the trade, giving him a gain of $500 ($5 gain multiplied by 100 shares). Using this same calculation, we can see that if the shares had risen to $27.50 during his holding period, then he would have been responsible for a $250 loss (100 shares * $2.50/share).

Why It Matters

Essentially, a short seller is still trying to do the same thing a regular investor is -- buy low and sell high. However, the short seller is trying to accomplish this in reverse order. In other words, he/she is trying to first sell high and then buy low. The short sales strategy, which is the opposite of entering a long position, is a risky one for a number of reasons. These include the potential for a margin call, as well as theoretically unlimited losses should the underlying stock rise instead of fall. A short seller is not entitled to keep any dividends distributed while he/she has shorted a stock.

When a large number of investors decide to short a particular stock, their collective actions can have a dramatic impact on the company's share price. An investor can quickly determine the percentage of a company's outstanding shares that are currently being sold short by checking the stock's "short interest." For example, a 10% short interest means that one of every ten outstanding shares is held short.

Often, market analysts or financial journalists will attribute a rise in a given stock, or occasionally even the broader markets, to short covering. Eventually, all short sellers must close out their trades by repurchasing the underlying shares that they initially sold. If many of them begin to do this simultaneously, then the rush of buying orders can temporarily boost stock prices. This often occurs after the market has fallen steeply (as short sellers attempt to lock in gains) or while it is rising sharply (as short sellers try to prevent further losses).

Occasionally, a sharp rise in a particular stock can trigger a large number of short sellers to cover their positions all at once. This short covering can push the share price even higher, causing even more short sellers to cover their positions and cut their losses. In these cases, the stock is said to be caught in a short squeeze. Volatile stocks with large short interest are particularly susceptible to this phenomenon, and prospective short sellers should be wary of it.

Though they are a small minority, a few investors actually own shares in the company they intend to short. This alternate strategy -- known as shorting against the box -- is typically used when an investor expects the price to fall, but does not yet want to close out his/her position by selling his/her current long positions.

Source: Investing Answers

tax sale

noun

Financial Definition of tax sale

What It Is

A tax sale is a sale of property by a taxing authority.

How It Works

For example, let's say that John owns a home and he owes $4,000 in property taxes. A year and a half goes by, and John doesn't pay the taxes. If he is unwilling or unable to pay his taxes after a certain amount of time, the taxing authority will seize his property and sell it in a tax lien foreclosure. The taxing authority uses the proceeds from the sale to pay the taxes owed.

Why It Matters

Tax sales almost always involve real estate, and they're almost always used for recovering unpaid taxes. An entire cottage industry has sprung up around tax lien sales because the taxing authority is generally able to sell the properti

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