Obs. Forms: 1 céap, 2–5 chep, 2–7 cheap, 4–6 chepe, (5 chype, schep), 5–6 cheep(e, Sc. chaip(e, 6 chiepe, 6–7 cheape. [A common Teut. sb.: OE. céap ‘barter, buying and selling, market, price, merchandise, stock, cattle,’ = OFris. kâp, OS. kôp (MDu. coop, Du. koop, LG. koop), OHG. chouf, MHG. kouf trade, buying and selling, merchandise, gain, payment (Ger. kauf purchase):—WGer. *kaup:—OTeut. *kaupo-z masc.; cf. ON. kaup bargain, pay, wages (Sw. köp, Da. kjöb bargain, purchase, price), neut.:—*kaupom. The original sense was ‘bargaining, barter, exchange of commodities,’ whence, after the use of money, ‘buying and selling,’ ‘buying or selling,’ in later times often restricted to ‘buying, purchase’ alone. Beside it, the Teut. langs. have the derivative verbs, *kaupjan (OHG. chouffen, OE. cíepan), and *kaupôjan (Goth. kaupon, OHG. choufôn, OE. céapian) to barter, buy and sell, etc. (see CHEAP v.), and OHG. an agent-sb. choufo, WGer. type *kaupo, -on, trader, merchant. OE. is the only language in which the sb. has the sense ‘cattle,’ so that there is no ground for taking that as the original sense; it was either, like the word CATTLE itself, a special application of the general sense ‘merchandise, stock,’ or perhaps connected with the use of cattle as a medium of exchange or measure of value; cf. FEE.
The coincidence of the stem kaup-, and esp. the identity of the WGer. agent-sb. *kaupo, -on ‘trader, merchant, dealer,’ with L. caupo, -ōn-em ‘petty tradesman, huckster, tavern keeper,’ has suggested that the Teut. word and its family are of Latin origin. But there are serious difficulties.
Some, taking the Goth. vb. kaupatja ‘to cuff’ as a deriv. of the same root, suggest for kaup- the original sense of ‘stroke, striking’: compare the notion of ‘striking’ a bargain, ‘striking hands’ over a bargain, Ger. handschlag.]
I. As a simple sb.
1. A bargain about the bartering or exchanging of one commodity for another, or of giving money or the like for any commodity; bargaining, trade, buying and selling.
Beowulf, 4822. Næs þæt yðe ceap to ʓegangenne gumena æniʓum.
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 68, in Lamb. Hom., 163. Ech mon mid þet he hauet mei buggen houene riche … Alse mid his penie alse oðer mið his punde. Þet is þe wunderlukeste chep þet eni mon efre funde.
c. 1205. Lay., 31799. No mihtest þu þurh nene chep finde neouwer na bred.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xi. 39. Al for on y wolde ȝeve threo, withoute chep.
2. The place of buying and selling; market. (Hence b. in place-names, as Cheapside, Eastcheap.)
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxxii. (Z.), 201. Ueneo, ic gange to ceape.
1462. Paston Lett., 452, II. 103. I wolle … man hyr and bryng hyr downne to the Gylys of Hulle, for that ys my chype.
b. c. 1300. K. Alis., 2654. Al so noble of riche mounde, So is chepe in this londe.
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. V. 165. A Rakere of chepe.
1596. J. Norden, Progr. Pietie (1847), 115. Deservedly crowned with a halter in Cheap.
3. That which is given in exchange for a commodity; price; value.
c. 1025. Cnut’s Eccl. Laws, 18 (Bosw.). Deopum ceape ʓebohte.
c. 1205. Lay., 385. Hire cheap wes þe wrse.
1424. Sc. Act Jas. I. (1597), § 24. Bread and aile … for reasonable price, after the chaipes of the countrie.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 72. Cheep [K. chep or pryse, 1499 chepe], precium.
4. Exchangeable commodities, merchandise, goods, chattels, esp. (live) cattle.
897. O. E. Chron. Ac hie wæron micle swiþor ʓebrocede on þæm þrim ʓearum mid ceapes cwilde and monna.
971. Blickl. Hom., 39. Þæt we … aʓeafon þone teoþan dæl þæs þe we on ceape habban. Ibid. Þone teoþan dæl on urum wæstmum, & on cwicum ceape.
a. 1000. Laws King Ine, 40 (Bosw.). His neahʓebures ceap.
II. In contextual uses.
5. Bargain, purchase; qualified from the buyer’s point of view as good, great, etc., as in the modern ‘a good bargain,’ ‘a great bargain,’ ‘a bargain,’ etc. Cf. F. faire bon marché.
1340. Ayenb., 36. Þe oþre beggeþ þe þinges, huanne hi byeþ lest worþ, to greate cheape.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Wyf Bathes Prol., 523. To greet chep is holden at litel pris.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), IV. 143. [They] makeþ it as þouȝ þey wolde nouȝt þerof, to have þe bettre chepe.
a. 1400. Octouian, 820. To no man schuld hyt be sold Half swych a chepe.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 102. Men say ‘lyght chepe Letherly for-yeldys.’
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxvii. 205. They toke the kynges prises for hir peny worthes at good chepe.
1530. Palsgr., Introd., 49. Marché, a bargen or a marketstede or cheepe, as good cheepe, bon marchie.
b. Niggard cheap: close thrift, economy, niggardliness.
1463. Paston Lett., 478, II. 139. Summe sey þat ze kepe hym at home for negard chepe, and wyll no thing ware upon hym.
6. State of the market, qualified from the buyer’s point of view as good, dear, etc. Good cheap: a state of the market good for the purchaser; low prices, abundance of commodities, plenty, cheapness. So dear cheap: a dear market, high prices, dearth, scarcity.
c. 1325. Pol. Songs (Camden), 341. Tho god ȝer was aȝein i-come, and god chep of corn.
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., I. xviii. 108. In a ȝeer of derth and in a ȝeer of greet cheep.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., III. viii. 147. Ther is plente and good chepe in one yere, In another yere it is had in grete chierte. Ibid. (1481–3), Bk. for Travellers, in Promp. Parv., 72. He byeth in tyme & at hour, so that he hath not of the dere chepe [du chier marchiet].
1554–9. in Songs & Ball. Philip & Mary (1860), 12. Dear cheape of vittels with the thowe hast brought.
1574. Hellowes, trans. Gueuara’s Ep. (1577), 223. Meruell of the good cheape that was in those dayes, and of the dearth that is nowe of victualles.
b. transf. Plenty, abundance.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 1897. The Englishmen … slew of them so great cheaps, That there lay much folk on heaps.
1489. Caxton, Faytes of A., IV. xi. 26. It is but by wordes wherof is gode chep ynoughe.
7. Hence, cheap alone: Abundance of commodities, plenty, cheapness; opposed to dearth.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 1974. Of chepe, of derthe, and of ruyne.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 143. I xal not spare for schep nor derthe.
c. 1570. Thynne, Pride & Lowl. (1841), 6. Concerning dearth or cheape, goodness or harme.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 112. Slack neuer thy weeding, for dearth nor for cheape.
8. quasi-adj. Good cheap was used for: That is a good bargain, that can be purchased on advantageous terms; low-priced, cheap. Compared better cheap, best cheap. So (rarely) great cheap.
(It is not clear whether the notion was ‘at a good market,’ or ‘as a good bargain.’)
c. 1375. Cato Major, I. xxix. in Anglia, VII. Þat is good chep may beo dere, And deore good chep also.
c. 1400. Maundev., xxii. 233. Clothes of Gold and of Sylk ben gretter chep there a gret del, than ben clothes of Wolle.
1494. Fabyan, VII. 343. Vytayll … was better chepe in London, than in many shyrys.
a. 1529. Skelton, Manerly Marg. Mylk & Ale, 25. The best chepe flessh that euyr I bought.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 104. Count best the best cheape, wheresoeuer ye dwell.
1574. Hyll, Conject. Weather, ii. Vittayles shall be reasonable good cheape.
1611. Bible, 2 Esdr. xvi. 21. Behold, victuals shall be so good cheape vpon earth.
1663. Gerbier, Counsel, 63. Nor is that which is best cheap, alwayes the best profit.
1682. Wheler, Journ. Greece, I. 25. Here is very good Bread and Wine, and good cheap I believe.
1736. Bailey, s.v. Best, Best is Best-cheap.
b. transf. and fig. That costs little (trouble, etc.), easily obtained; plentiful, abundant; of small value, ‘cheap.’
[1340. Ayenb., 256. Ac ulatours and lyeȝeres byeþ to grat cheap ine hare cort.]
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546). Because that vertue is so deere in thee, and makst folye so great cheape.
1557. Wyatt, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 83. Faire wordes … be good chepe they cost right nought.
1620. Shelton, Quix., II. xxxvi. 242. There’s nothing costs lesse, nor is better cheape, as my Master tells mee, then complement.
1637. Rutherford, Lett., civ. (1862), I. 264. It cost me nothing, it is good-cheap love [i.e., Christ’s].
1647. Sanderson, Serm., xiv. (1656), 277. They wish us well, and pity our case, (Good words are good cheap:) but do little or nothing for us.
1656. Jeanes, Fuln. Christ, 315. That advice, which delivered by a common man, is good cheape, yet comming from a counseller, serjeant, judge, are of great value.
9. quasi-adv. Good cheap was also used (cf. to or at good cheap in 5) for: On advantageous terms, at a low cost, cheaply. (Compared as in 8.)
1420. Will & Inv. N. Counties (1835), 63. I wille þat my brothere William haue þe landes & rentys bettir chepe þen any othir man.
1428. E. E. Wills (1882), 82.
1467. Mann. & Househ. Exp., 395. My mastyr schal have it as good chepe as any othere mane.
1528. Tindale, Wicked Mammon, Wks. I. 122. To buy as good cheap as he can, and to sell as dear as he can.
1538. Aberdeen Reg., V. 76 (Jam.). Settis it bettir chaip to ony wyis.
1570. Ascham, Scholem. (Arb.), 125. As a man, that would feede vpon Acornes, whan he may eate, as good cheape, the finest wheat bread.
1606. Choice, Chance, etc. (1881), 21. No Tradesman should sell his ware too good cheape.
1653. Baxter, Chr. Concord, 47. The people will take him for their Minister that will do it best cheap.
1667. Decay Chr. Piety, xi. § 8. 311. Like sick men, who desire to die good-cheap, they put themselves into the hands of any Empirick.
b. transf. and fig. On good terms, with little effort; cheaply, easily.
1567–9. Jewel, Def. Apol. (1611), 461. Ye might as good cheape, and as well haue wished, that all the whole people of al Countries, would learne to speake G[r]eeke. and Hebrew.
1583. Golding, Calvin on Deut. clxviii. 1040. [They] thinke thereby to scape the better cheape before God.
1653. Holcroft, Procopius, II. 39. Hoping … to take them all Prisoners good cheap.
1665. J. Spencer, Prophecies, 107–8. We may ever have Prophecies from these persons very good cheap.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Josephus’ Antiq., XVII. xii. The Romans … came off better Cheap.
10. Comb. cheap-house, a house of merchandise. [Cf. OE. céapstow market-place.]
1606. Hieron, Truths Purch., Wks. I. 46. This sinne of not caring to frequent Gods cheap-house, which is His church.
