car boot sale
- noun
- /kɑːr buːt seɪl/
- UK
:
mercadillo de maletero
- Many families organize their old items to sell at a car boot sale, making it a fun event for everyone.
Examples
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At the weekend, we visited a car boot sale where vendors were selling everything from clothes to antiques.
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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) -
That smell, the smell of a car boot sale is just the best thing in the world.
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Like, 10 years ago, a pregnant lady at a car boot sale bought it.
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Because I feel like that was when I was like getting dogs, still going to car boot sales, getting Happy Meals.
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She found some great vintage records at the local car boot sale this Sunday.
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
6
2.3
An event where people sell used or donated things to raise money for charity
An outdoor market where people sell things from the back of their car
An outdoor place on a sidewalk where people sell food and goods
A sale where people buy used or donated things to raise money for charity
How Big
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'an outdoor market where people sell goods from the trunks of their cars' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'car' + 'boot' (the car's luggage compartment) + 'sale' (an event for selling goods). This compositional structure is literal and easily inferable by a B1 learner who knows the constituent words (noting the British use of 'boot' for 'trunk'), so prior exposure is not required.
Etymology
Car boot sale comes from a simple image: people park their cars and open the boot, the back of the car, to 'sell' things from it. That's why the phrase now means 'an outdoor market where people sell goods from the trunks of their cars'.