Cheapstead
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A marketplace. historical, rare
"[…] three weeks of winter were employed in butchering, and more than an acre of field surrounding the cheapstead at Housewick was covered with knots of men and women decapitating and flaying their flocks."
Example
More examples"[…] three weeks of winter were employed in butchering, and more than an acre of field surrounding the cheapstead at Housewick was covered with knots of men and women decapitating and flaying their flocks."
Etymology
From cheap (“purchase, business, market”) + stead (“place”), probably a translation of Old Norse kaupstaðr (“marketplace”). Compare Icelandic kaupstaður (“market town”), Swedish köpstad (“market town”), Old English ċēapstōw (“marketplace”).
More for "cheapstead"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.