1. a person or organization that buys and sells goods or a particular type of goods:
• US tobacco merchants are depending more and more on international sales.
• wine merchants and distributors
ˌmass ˈmerchant COMMERCE
a merchant selling to large numbers of buyers:
• low-cost, high-volume products sold by mass merchants and superstores
ˈretail ˌmerchant COMMERCE
someone who owns a shop, or the shop itself:
• Retail merchants often cannot afford expensive advertising.
2. used by credit card companies to talk about the shops etc that accept their cards:
• Today, over 18 million merchants accept Visa.
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Ⅰ.
merchant UK US /ˈmɜːtʃənt/ noun [C] COMMERCE
► a person or business that buys and sells products in large amounts for profit, often trading with other countries: »
grain/cotton/wine merchants
► a business that sells directly to the public either from a store or through the internet: »
Experienced merchants said that the fee structure for accepting cards is confusing.
»Local merchants experienced a revenue boost in the lead up to Thanksgiving.
»Most online merchants will email you an order confirmation with details of your purchase.
→ See also FUTURES COMMISSION MERCHANT(Cf. ↑futures commission merchant), MASS MERCHANT(Cf. ↑mass merchant), RETAIL MERCHANT(Cf. ↑retail merchant), RETAILER(Cf. ↑retailer)
Ⅱ.
merchant UK US /ˈmɜːtʃənt/ adjective [before noun]
► COMMERCE used to describe people or businesses connected with buying or selling goods: »
merchant customers/families/fees
► TRANSPORT connected with the ships that carry goods by sea: »
merchant fleet/seaman
Financial and business terms. 2012.