store

English

Etymology

From Middle English store, stoure, storre, from Anglo-Norman stor, estore, estorr, estoer, and Old French estour, estor, from Latin īnstaurō.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: stôr, IPA^(key): /stɔɹ/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: stô, IPA^(key): /stɔː/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) enPR: stōr, IPA^(key): /sto(ː)ɹ/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /stoə/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)
• Homophone: stower (in some accents)

Noun

store (plural stores)

1. A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept.

   This building used to be a store for old tires.

   • 1936, Robert Frost, “The Vindictives”, in A Further Range:

     And his subjects wrung all they could wring
     Out of temple and palace and store.

2. A supply held in storage.
   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, , →OCLC:

     But there was an infinite store of mercy in those eyes, for him too a word of pardon even though he had erred and sinned and wandered.

   • 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm , London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:

     By late summer a sufficient store of stone had accumulated, and then the building began […] , under the superintendence of the pigs.

   • 2006, Carolly Erickson, The Last Wife of Henry VIII:

     What surprised us all was how Will's lighthearted nature and constant store of good humor won over one of the great heiresses of King Henry's court, Anne Bourchier.

3. (mainly North American) A place where items may be purchased; a shop.

   I need to get some milk from the grocery store.

   • 1899, Stephen Crane, chapter 1, in Twelve O'Clock:

     There was some laughter, and Roddle was left free to expand his ideas on the periodic visits of cowboys to the town. “Mason Rickets, he had ten big punkins a-sittin' in front of his store, an' them fellers from the Upside-down-F ranch shot 'em up […] .”

   • 1948, Carey McWilliams, North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of The United States, J. B. Lippincott Company, page 75:

     In 1866 Colonel J. F. Meline noted that the rebozo had almost disappeared in Santa Fe and that hoop skirts, on sale in the stores, were being widely used.

4. (computing, dated) Memory.

   The main store of 1000 36-bit words seemed large at the time.

5. A great quantity or number; abundance.
   • 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 37”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. , London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC:

     I make my love engrafted to this store.

   • a. 1645, John Milton, “L’Allegro”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, , London: Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, , published 1646, →OCLC:

     With store of Ladies, whose bright eies
     Rain influence, and judge the prise
     Of Wit, or Arms, while both contend
     To win her Grace, whom all commend.

6. A head of store cattle (feeder cattle to be sold to others for finishing); a store cattle beast.

Synonyms

• (supply held in storage): stock, supply
• (place from which items may be purchased): boutique, shop (UK); see also Thesaurus:retail store
• (in computing): memory

Derived terms

Related terms

• storage

Descendants

• Tok Pisin: stua
  • → Rotokas: sitoa
• → Afrikaans: stoor
• → Cantonese: 士多 (si⁶ do¹)

Translations

Verb

store (third-person singular simple present stores, present participle storing, simple past and past participle stored)

1. (transitive) To keep (something) while not in use, generally in a place meant for that purpose.

   Coordinate terms: lay aside, lay away, lay by, lay in, lay up, put aside, put away, put by, save, store away, store up

   I'll store these books in the attic.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 1, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     The half-dozen pieces […] were painted white and carved with festoons of flowers, birds and cupids. To display them the walls had been tinted a vivid blue which had now faded, but the carpet, which had evidently been stored and recently relaid, retained its original turquoise.

   • 2024 January 10, Chris Gilson, “RAIL's famous five...”, in RAIL, number 1000, page 27:

     Following allocation to Toton on January 1 1996, it stayed there until transferral to Crewe in November 2000, before being stored at Eastleigh on December 17 the same year.

2. To contain.

   The cabinets store all the food the mice would like.

3. Have the capacity and capability to contain.

   They sell boxes that store 24 mason jars.

4. (transitive, computing) To write (something) into memory or registers.

   This operation stores the result on the stack.

5. (transitive) To stock, to fill (a container, repository, etc.) with things.
   • 1911, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 8, page 244:

     I have eaten my fill, and had my pockets well stored.

Derived terms

Translations

References

• “store”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• store on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Store in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

Anagrams

• Resto, estro-, resto, roset, rotes, sorte, tores, torse

Danish

Adjective

store

1. definite of stor
2. plural of stor

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Verb

store

1. (dated or formal) singular present subjunctive of storen

Anagrams

• roest, roste, stoer

French

Etymology

From Latin storea (“mat”), via regional Italian stora (modern Italian stuoia).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɔʁ/

• audio

  (file)

Noun

store m (plural stores)

1. blind, shade (for a window)

Descendants

• → Catalan: estor
• → Galician: estor
• → German: Store
• → Portuguese: estore

References

Further reading

• “store”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

Anagrams

• resto, rotes, sorte, tores, torse

Latvian

Noun

store f (5th declension)

1. sturgeon

Declension

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Anglo-Norman stor, estour, ultimately from Latin instaurare. Compare warnestore.

Alternative forms

• stor, stoure, storre, stour, stoor, stoore

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stɔːr/

Noun

store (uncountable)

2. supplies, provisions
3. livestock, farm animals
4. (stored) possessions, savings
5. collection, storage
6. storehouse, storeroom
7. value, importance

Descendants

• English: store
  • Tok Pisin: stua
    • → Rotokas: sitoa
  • → Afrikaans: stoor
  • → Cantonese: 士多 (si⁶ do¹)
• Scots: store

References

• “stōr(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Etymology 2

From Old English stōr and Old Norse stórr, from Proto-Germanic *stōraz; some forms are also influenced by Middle Dutch stuur.

Alternative forms

• stoor, stour, stur, sture, storre, stowre, stoore, stoure

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stoːr/, /stuːr/, /stɔːr/

Adjective

store

2. strong, powerful, intense
3. violent, threatening, imposing
4. stern, sharp, harsh
5. numerous, large in number
6. large, big, great
7. coarse, rough

Descendants

• English: stoor, stour (archaic)
• Scots: stour, stoure, sture, stoor, stoar

References

• “stọ̄r(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Adverb

store

1. violently, threateningly, imposingly
2. sternly, sharply, harshly

References

• “stọ̄re, adv.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Etymology 3

From Old English stōr; possibly from a Celtic language.

Alternative forms

• stor, stoure

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stoːr/

Noun

store

2. incense, frankincense, storax

References

• “stọ̄r(e, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-04-03.

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

store

1. definite singular of stor
2. plural of stor

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

store

1. definite singular of stor
2. plural of stor

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

store

1. definite natural masculine singular of stor

Anagrams

• orets, rotes, teros