cheap

a. [ Abbrev. fr. “good cheap”: a good purchase or bargain; cf. F. bon marché, à bon marché. See Cheap, n., Cheapen. ] 1. 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. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Of comparatively small value; common; mean. [ 1913 Webster ]

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

Dog cheap, very cheap, -- a phrase formed probably by the catachrestical transposition of good cheap. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Cheaply. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To buy; to bargain. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Cheapened p. pr. & vb. n. Cheapening. ] [ OE. cheapien, chepen, to trade, buy, sell, AS. ceápian; akin to D. koopen to buy, G. kaufen, Icel. kaupa, Goth. kaupōn to trade. Cf. Chap to bargain. ] 1. To ask the price of; to bid, bargain, or chaffer for. [ Obsoles. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ Cf. Cheap, a. ] To beat down the price of; to lessen the value of; to depreciate. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

My proffered love has cheapened me. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who cheapens. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A seller of low-priced, shoddy, or second goods; a hawker.
Syn. -- huckster, hawker, tout. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. At a small price; at a low value; in a common or inferior manner. [ 1913 Webster ]