white goods
- noun
- /waɪt ɡʊdz/
- UK
:
electrodomésticos
- 40 years ago, all the major UK department store chains sold "white goods" (major appliances) and lots of furniture.
Examples
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What about the other department stores? The accountants and consultants outsourced their delivery services in the 80s and 90s, and their sales of white goods and other things faded away as people found the outsourced deliveries hopelessly unreliable.
Blog text (19) -
When moving into a new home, we purchased several white goods such as a washing machine and refrigerator.
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Today, only one sells much—John Lewis—and it had a huge share of the white goods market.
Blog text (19) -
Retailers often have sales on white goods including ovens and dishwashers during major holidays.
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The delivery of our new white goods was delayed, including the stove and washing machine we ordered last month.
Synonyms
Items can be plain white pottery or large white home appliances like refrigerators
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase labels a specific class of household appliances and its connection to the literal constituents is partly conventional: historically these appliances were finished in white enamel, so 'white' + 'goods' has a token-level link, but the specialized meaning 'large electrical household appliances' is not directly predictable from knowing 'white' (color) and 'goods' (products). A B1 learner who knows the words would likely misinterpret it as simply 'products that are white' unless they have seen the industry sense, so the expression is partially transparent but requires lexicalized knowledge.
Etymology
White goods for large appliances may come from early fridges, stoves, and washing machines that were commonly covered in white paint or white metal. So white (the colour) plus goods (big things for the home) became a name for 'large appliances'.
