boot sale
- noun
- /buːt seɪl/
- UK
:
mercadillo
- Do you feel like you're at a car boot sale, having a little rummage of your sister's old things?
Examples
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These are just brilliant and fabulous UGG boot sales.
Blog text (22) -
Like, 10 years ago, a pregnant lady at a car boot sale bought it.
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I also have a large collection of records, and one of my favorite pastimes is looking through old charity shops and car boot sales.
Blog text (25) -
This weekend, I found some amazing vintage clothes at the local boot sale.
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We decided to sell our unwanted items at a boot sale in the park.
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Many families come together every Sunday to browse the boot sale for hidden treasures.
Synonyms
40
1.2
An event at someone's home to sell used household items
37
2.3
An outdoor market where people sell used things like clothes or furniture
33
1.6
A sale outside a home where people sell used things
An outdoor market where people sell things from the back of their cars
An outdoor place on a sidewalk where people sell food and goods
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an outdoor sale of goods from the boots (trunks) of cars' is directly derivable from combining 'boot' (car trunk) with 'sale' (selling of goods), so the idea of a sale involving car boots is compositional. Although the phrase is regionally British and denotes a specific outdoor market format, its core meaning follows transparently from the constituents and would be inferable by a B1 learner who knows both words.
Etymology
Boot sale comes from a simple image: people sell things from the boot of their car in a car park or field. That's why boot sale means 'an outdoor market where people sell goods from their car boots', and the boot is the car storage space called the 'trunk' in American English.