saleable

comparative more saleable · superlative most saleable

1. Suitable for sale; marketable; worth enough to try to sell; that can be sold (i.e., for which it is possible to find a willing and able buyer).

   Near-synonyms: vendable, vendible

   5 more examples

   They held an estate sale last Saturday, which cleared out everything that was saleable; what's left will require a skip for disposal.

   Consider what a rough worme-eaten table / By well-mix'd colours is made ſaleable; / Or how toad-houſing ſculs, and old ſwart bones / Are grac'd with painted toombs and plated ſtones; […]

   1598, [Edward Guilpin], “Satyra Secunda”, in Skialetheia. Or, A Shadowe of Truth in Certaine Epigrams and Satyrs, London: Printed by I[ames] R[oberts] for Nicholas Ling, and are to bee solde at the little west doore of Poules, →OCLC; republished as J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Skialetheia. Or, A Shadowe of Truth in Certaine Epigrams and Satyrs (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I.; [nos. 4, 10, 14]), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 34

   Cato cenſureth fitly of them percunctatores garruli [talkative idle], and Plautus amplie deſcribeth their natures, terming them by an old but ſignificant name of famigeratores, as filled both in the eares and in the mouth, with a certaine ſaleable windy matter of rumours and reports.

   1606, Edward Forsett, A Comparative Discovrse of the Bodies Natvral and Politiqve. Wherein out of the Principles of Nature, is Set Forth the True Forme of a Commonweale, with the Dutie of Subjects, and the Right of the Soueraigne: Together with Many Good Points of Politicall Learning, Mentioned in a Briefe after the Preface, London: Printed for Iohn Bill, →OCLC, page 98

   With the extension of traffic in space and with the expansion over ever longer intervals of time of prevision for satisfying material needs, each individual would learn, from his own economic interests, to take good heed that he bartered his less saleable goods for those special commodities which displayed, beside the attraction of being highly saleable in the particular locality, a wide range of saleableness both in time and place.

   1892 June, Karl Menger [i.e., Carl Menger], “On the Origin of Money”, in Caroline A. Foley, transl., edited by F[rancis] Y[sidro] Edgeworth, The Economic Journal: The Journal of the British Economic Association, volume II, number 6, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →ISSN, →OCLC, section VI (On the Genesis of Media of Exchange), page 248

   Perhaps the central unsolved problem for multispecies fishery management is the problem of finding a saleable, operational catch-phrase to replace MSY [maximum sustainable yield], or if that proves impossible, an understandable series of basic management principles.

   1984, C. W. Clark, “Strategies for Multispecies Management: Objectives and Constraints”, in R[obert] M. May, editor, Exploitation of Marine Communities: Report of the Dahlem Workshop on Exploitation of Marine Communities, Berlin 1984, April 1–6 (Dahlem Workshop Report; Life Sciences Research Report; 32), Berlin; Heidelberg: Springer-Verlag, →OCLC, page 306

   Synonyms: sellable, vendable, vendible · Antonyms: unsaleable, unsalable, unsellable, unmerchantable, unmarketable

plural saleables

1. Something that can be sold.

   Near-synonyms: ware, wares, stock, inventory

   4 more examples

   If any of their ware were ſuch, as he could poſſibly make uſe of, or pretend to make uſe of, he always brought ſome: and paid for every half-penny-worth, at leaſt ſixpence: and for every penny-worth, a ſhilling. If their ſaleables were of another nature, he added ſomething to their ſtock: with ſtrict charges of induſtry, and honeſty.

   1754, J. R. [pseudonym; Patrick Delany], chapter XI, in Observations upon Lord Orrery’s Remarks on the Life and Writings of Dr. Jonathan Swift. Containing Several Singular Anecdotes Relating to the Character and Conduct of that Great Genius, and the Most Deservedly Celebrated Stella. In a Series of Letters to His Lordship. Two which are Added, Two Original Pieces of the Same Author (Excellent in Their Kind) never before Publish’d, London: Printed and sold by W. Reeve at Shakespear's Head near Serjeants-Inn Gate, Fleet-street, and by A. Linde in Catherine-street in the Strand, →OCLC, pages 132–133

   The village itself looks like a fragment of antiquity, though the streets were somewhat enlivened, the day I passed through them, by multitudes of men, women, children, cows, horses, and sheep, to say nothing of vegetables and saleables of all kinds and quality.

   1850, J. T. Headley, “Rambles in England”, in The Miscellaneous Works of the Rev. J. T. Headley. With a Biographical Sketch and Portrait of the Author, 2nd edition, volume I, New York, N.Y.: John S. Taylor, 143 Nassau Street, page 237

   The transformation of expressive content from an undirected impulse into material for manipulation makes it palpable, exhibitable, saleable. The lyrical subjectivism of [Heinrich] Heine, for example, does not stand in simple contradiction to his commercial traits; the saleable is itself subjectivity administrated by subjectivity.

   1974, Theodor W. Adorno, “Small Sorrows, Great Songs”, in E. F. N. Jephcott, transl., Minima Moralia: Reflections from Damaged Life, London: New Left Books, →ISBN; republished London; New York, N.Y.: Verso Books, 2005, →ISBN, page 215

   Be prepared to give a discount for special reasons. Watch your merchandise carefully since light fingers sometimes make salables into disappearables.

   1974, Sylvia O'Neill Dorn, The Insider’s Guide to Antiques, Art, and Collectibles, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, →OCLC, page 116

   Synonyms: sellable, ware, wares, stock, inventory