vending

nounB1+Common in everyday speech and writing · #5,780 of 15,258neutral

Vending is the selling of goods, especially from a machine. A vending machine.

The word is now almost confined to machines, though it once meant selling of any kind. Vending machines exist wherever a shop cannot be staffed, which is why they are in corridors and stations.

Definitions of vending

1nounvendingThe selling of goods, especially from a machine.B1+
“The vending in that corridor took more than the canteen did.”

vending is a selling.

Where it comes from

Proto-Indo-European
*deh₃-
Latin
vendo
Old French
vendre
French
vendre
English
vend
English, today
vending

Built from

vēnum dāre · Latin — to give (something for) sale

vend 17th century, likely a backformation from earlier vendible, vendee, vendor inspired by the underlying French vendre, from Old French vendre, from Latin vendo, from vēnum dāre (“to give (something for) sale”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

vending in the wild

The first modern vending machines were developed in England in the early 1880s and dispensed postcards.
Vending machine
Vending machines exist in many countries and, in more recent times, specialized vending machines that provide less common products compared to traditional vending machine items have been created.
Vending machine
An automat is a fast-food restaurant where food and drink are served through a vending machine, typically without waitstaff.
Automat
The first prototype of a reverse vending machine was established in 1972 by TOMRA.
Reverse vending machine
A condom machine is a vending machine for the sale of condoms.
Condom machine

1 / 3

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

Related words

the vēnum dāre family

vending vendor

vending — used about once every 1,559 pages · #5,780 · point at the bar for the others

vending machine

← Vocabulary