cheap

• POS: Adjective, Noun, Adverb

CIDE DICTIONARY

cheap, n. [AS. ceáp bargain, sale, price; akin to D. koop purchase, G. kauf, Icel. kaup bargain. Cf. Cheapen, Chapman, Chaffer, Cope, v. i.].

 A bargain; a purchase; cheapness.  [1913 Webster]
"The sack that thou hast drunk me would have bought me lights as good cheap at the dearest chandler's in Europe."  [1913 Webster]

cheap, a. [Abbrev. fr. “good cheap”: a good purchase or bargain; cf. F. bon marché, à bon marché. See Cheap, n., Cheapen.].

•  Having a low price in market; of small cost or price, as compared with the usual price or the real value.  [1913 Webster]

  "Where there are a great sellers to a few buyers, there the thing to be sold will be cheap."  [1913 Webster]
•  Of comparatively small value; common; mean.  [1913 Webster]

  "You grow cheap in every subject's eye."  [1913 Webster]

Dog cheap, very cheap, -- a phrase formed probably by the catachrestical transposition of good cheap. [Colloq.]<-- = dirt cheap?-->

cheap, adv. 

 Cheaply.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]

cheap, v. i. 

 To buy; to bargain.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

cheap, adj. & adv.
--adj.
1 low in price; worth more than its cost (a cheap holiday; cheap labour).
2 charging low prices; offering good value (a cheap restaurant).
3 of poor quality; inferior (cheap housing).
4 a costing little effort or acquired by discreditable means and hence of little worth (cheap popularity; a cheap joke). b contemptible; despicable (a cheap criminal).
--adv. cheaply (got it cheap).

Idiom

cheap and nasty of low cost and bad quality. dirt cheap very cheap. feel cheap feel ashamed or contemptible. on the cheap cheaply.

Derivative

cheapish adj. cheaply adv. cheapness n.

Etymology

obs. phr. good cheap f. cheap a bargain f. OE ceap barter, ult. f. L caupo innkeeper

THESAURUS

cheap

Mickey Mouse, NG, at cost, avaricious, bad, base, beggarly, beneath contempt, beneath one, brummagem, budget, cheapjack, cheaply, cheesy, chintzy, close, closefisted, coarse, common, contemptible, crummy, debasing, degrading, demeaning, deplorable, despicable, disgraceful, easily, easy, economic, economical, economy, fake, flashy, for a song, fourth-class, frugal, garish, gaudy, gimcracky, good-for-naught, good-for-nothing, gutter, hardfisted, humiliating, humiliative, illiberal, inexpensive, inexpensively, inferior, infra dig, infra indignitatem, irregular, junk, junky, lousy, low, low-class, low-grade, low-priced, low-quality, low-test, manageable, mean, measly, meretricious, miserable, miserly, moderate, modest, near, niggardly, no-account, no-good, nominal, not worth having, not worth mentioning, not worthwhile, nugacious, nugatory, on the cheap, opprobrious, ornery, outrageous, paltry, pathetic, penny-pinching, penurious, petty, phony, pinchfisted, pinching, pitiable, pitiful, poor, popular, punk, reasonable, reasonably, reduced, rotten, rubbishy, sad, save-all, scandalous, scrubby, scruffy, scummy, scurvy, scuzzy, second-best, second-class, second-rate, seedy, sensible, shabby, sham, shameful, shocking, shoddy, sleazy, sorry, stingy, tacky, tatty, tawdry, terrible, third-class, third-rate, tight, tight-fisted, tightfisted, tinny, token, too bad, trashy, trifling, trivial, trumpery, two-bit, two-for-a-cent, two-for-a-penny, twopenny, twopenny-halfpenny, unbecoming, unexpensive, ungenerous, unworthy of one, valueless, vile, within means, worth the money, worthless, wretched, wrong

ROGET THESAURUS

cheap

Unimportance

N unimportance, insignificance, nothingness, immateriality, triviality, levity, frivolity, paltriness, poverty, smallness, vanity, matter of indifference, no object, nothing, nothing to signify, nothing worth speaking of, nothing particular, nothing to boast of, nothing to speak of, small matter, no great matter, trifling matter, mere joke, mere nothing, hardly anything, scarcely anything, nonentity, small beer, cipher, no great shakes, peu de chose, child's play, kinderspiel, toy, plaything, popgun, paper pellet, gimcrack, gewgaw, bauble, trinket, bagatelle, Rickshaw, knickknack, whim-wham, trifle, trifles light as air, yankee notions, trumpery, trash, rubbish, stuff, fatras, frippery, leather or prunello, chaff, drug, froth bubble smoke, cobweb, weed, refuse, scum, joke, jest, snap of the fingers, fudge, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end, pack of nonsense, mere farce, straw, pin, fig, button, rush, bulrush, feather, halfpenny, farthing, brass farthing, doit, peppercorn, jot, rap, pinch of snuff, old son, cent, mill, picayune, pistareen, red cent, minutiae, details, minor details, small fry, dust in the balance, feather in the scale, drop in the ocean, flea-bite, molehill, nine days' wonder, ridiculus mus, flash in the pan, much ado about nothing, unimportant, of little account, of small account, of no account, of little importance, of no importance, immaterial, unessential, nonessential, indifferent, subordinate, mediocre, passable, fair, respectable, tolerable, commonplace, uneventful, mere, common, ordinary, inconsiderable, so-so, insignificant, inappreciable, trifling, trivial, slight, slender, light, flimsy, frothy, idle, puerile, airy, shallow, weak, powerless, frivolous, petty, niggling, piddling, peddling, fribble, inane, ridiculous, farcical, finical, finikin, fiddle-faddle, fingle-fangle, namby-pamby, wishy-washy, milk and water, poor, paltry, pitiful, contemptible, sorry, mean, meager, shabby, miserable, wretched, vile, scrubby, scrannel, weedy, niggardly, scurvy, putid, beggarly, worthless, twopennyhalfpenny, cheap, trashy, catchpenny, gimcrack, trumpery, one- horse, not worth the pains, not worth while, not worth mentioning, not worth speaking of, not worth a thought, not worth a curse, not worth a straw, beneath notice, unworthy of notice, beneath regard, unworthy of regard, beneath consideration, unworthy of consideration, de lana caprina, vain, slightly, rather, somewhat, pretty well, tolerably, for aught one cares, Int, no matter!, pish!, tush!, tut!, pshaw!, pugh!, pooh, pooh-pooh!, fudge!, bosh!, humbug!, fiddlestick, fiddlestick end!, fiddlededee!, never mind!, n'importe!, what signifies it, what boots it, what of it, what of that, what matter, what's the odds, a fig for', stuff!, nonsense!, stuff and nonsense, magno conatu magnas nugas, le jeu ne vaut pas la chandelle, it matters not, it does not signify, it is of no consequence, it is of no importance, elephantus non capit murem, tempete dans un verre d'eau.

Worthlessness

N worthlessness, valuelessness, lack of value, uselessness, cheapness, shoddiness, low quality, poor quality, trash, garbage, worthless, valueless, useless, cheap, shoddy, slapdash, inexpensive, not worth the paper it's printed on, not worth a sou.

Cheapness

N cheapness, low price, depreciation, bargain, good penny worth, snap, gratuity, free quarters, free seats, free admission, pass, free pass, free warren, give-away, freebee, run of one's teeth, nominal price, peppercorn rent, labor of love, drug in the market, deadhead, cheap, low, low priced, moderate, reasonable, inexpensive, unexpensive, well worth the money, worth the money, magnifique et pas cher, good at the price, cheap at the price, dirt cheap, dog cheap, cheap, cheap as dirt, cheap and nasty, catchpenny, discounted, half-price, depreciated, unsalable, gratuitous, gratis, free, for nothing, costless, expenseless, without charge, not charged, untaxed, scotfree, shotfree, rent-free, free of cost, free of expense, honorary, unbought, unpaid, for a mere song, for a song, at cost, at cost price, at prime cost, at a reduction, a bon marche, cheapness, low price, depreciation, bargain, good penny worth, snap, gratuity, free quarters, free seats, free admission, pass, free pass, free warren, give-away, freebee, run of one's teeth, nominal price, peppercorn rent, labor of love, drug in the market, deadhead, cheap, low, low priced, moderate, reasonable, inexpensive, unexpensive, well worth the money, worth the money, magnifique et pas cher, good at the price, cheap at the price, dirt cheap, dog cheap, cheap, cheap as dirt, cheap and nasty, catchpenny, discounted, half-price, depreciated, unsalable, gratuitous, gratis, free, for nothing, costless, expenseless, without charge, not charged, untaxed, scotfree, shotfree, rent-free, free of cost, free of expense, honorary, unbought, unpaid, for a mere song, for a song, at cost, at cost price, at prime cost, at a reduction, a bon marche.