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Glite Dictionary
drygoods

drygoods

6.8
Cloth, clothing, and other items sold in shops for sewing or the home
  • noun
  • /ˈdraɪˌɡʊdz/
  • Archaic
translation icon : mercancías secas
  • The department store has a wide selection of drygoods, including fabrics and linens.

Examples

  • Many historic general stores sold both groceries and drygoods to their customers.

  • She found work managing a small drygoods shop in the city.

  • The store sells various drygoods.

  • Can you find the drygoods section?

  • The department store has a wide selection of drygoods, including fabrics and linens.

  • Many historic general stores sold both groceries and drygoods to their customers.

  • She found work managing a small drygoods shop in the city.

Synonyms

soft goods
vsdrygoods
  • Jargon
1 3.0

Clothing, towels, sheets, and other fabric items sold in stores

focuses on textiles and clothing specifically as items sold in shops

Surface Forms

drygoods plural

Morphology

drygoods = dry + goods (semi-transparent) = dry + goods

The components 'dry' + 'goods' are clear, but the specialized merchant sense 'textiles/clothing' is a conventional retail term not fully predictable from the literal meanings.

Etymology

Drygoods comes from the old shop phrase dry + goods, meaning items that are 'dry', not wet or liquid like groceries. So a drygoods shop sold cloth, clothing and other textiles, and today drygoods means fabrics and similar items.