Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To give in return for something received; trade.
  • intransitive verb To give and receive reciprocally; interchange.
  • intransitive verb To give up for a substitute.
  • intransitive verb To turn in for replacement.
  • intransitive verb To give something in return for something received; make an exchange.
  • intransitive verb To be received in exchange.
  • noun The act or an instance of exchanging.
  • noun One that is exchanged.
  • noun A place or network for exchanging things, especially a center where securities or commodities are bought and sold.
  • noun A telephone exchange.
  • noun A system of payments using instruments, such as negotiable drafts, instead of money.
  • noun The fee or percentage charged for participating in such a system of payment.
  • noun A bill of exchange.
  • noun A rate of exchange.
  • noun The amount of difference in the actual value of two or more currencies or between values of the same currency at two or more places.
  • noun A dialogue.
  • adjective Of or relating to a reciprocal arrangement between a local and a foreign institution or group.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To go, by exchange with another officer, from one regiment or branch of service to another.
  • In com., to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; barter: as, to exchange goods in foreign countries for their native productions; the workman exchanges his labor for money.
  • To give and receive reciprocally; give and take; communicate mutually; interchange: as, to exchange horses, clothes, thoughts, civilities.
  • To quit or part with for something else; give up in substitution; make a change or transition from: as, to exchange a crown for a cowl; to exchange a throne for a cell or a hermitage; to exchange a life of ease for a life of toil.
  • Synonyms To change, trade, truck, swap, bandy, commute. See the noun.
  • To make an exchange; pass or be taken as an equivalent: as, how much will a sovereign exchange for in American money?
  • noun A mutual transfer of two officers in different regiments or branches of the service.
  • noun In chess, the advantage of having a rook against the opponent's knight or bishop.
  • noun The giving of one thing or commodity for another; the act of parting with something in return for an equivalent; traffic by interchange of commodities; barter.
  • noun The act of giving up or resigning one thing or state for another: as, the exchange of a crown for a cloister.
  • noun The act of giving and receiving reciprocally; mutual transfer: as, an exchange of thoughts or of civilities.
  • noun Mutual substitution; return: used chiefly in the phrase in exchange.
  • noun That which is given in return for something received, or received in return for what is given.
  • noun Hence Among journalists, a newspaper or other regular publication sent in exchange for another.
  • noun In law: A reciprocal transfer of property for property, as distinguished from a transfer for a money consideration.
  • noun At common law, more specifically, a reciprocal or mutual grant of equal interests in land, the one in consideration of the other, as a grant of a fee simple in return for a fee simple.
  • noun In com.: The giving or receiving of the money of one country or region in return for an equivalent sum in that of another, or the giving or receiving of a sum of money in one place for a bill ordering the payment of an equivalent sum in another.
  • noun The method or system by which debits and credits in different places are settled without the actual transference of the money—documents, usually called bills of exchange, representing values, being given and received.
  • noun The rate at which the documentary transfer of funds can be made; the course or rate of exchange: as, if the debts reciprocally due by two places be equal, the exchange will be at par; but when greater in one than in the other, the exchange will be against that place which has the larger remittances to make, and in favor of the other. Abbreviated exch.
  • noun A place where the merchants, brokers, and bankers of a city in general, or those of a particular class, meet at certain hours daily to transact business with one another by purchase and sale.
  • noun The central station where the lines from all the subscribers in any telephone system meet, and where connections can be made between the lines.
  • noun In arithmetic, a rule for finding how much of the money of one country is equivalent to a given sum of the money of another.
  • noun A statute of 1878 (41 Vict., c. 13) which declared signature a sufficient acceptance.
  • noun A statute of 1882 (45 and 46 Vict., c. 61) which codifies the whole body of English law relating to bills, notes, and checks.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The act of giving or taking one thing in return for another which is regarded as an equivalent.
  • noun The act of substituting one thing in the place of another; ; also, the act of giving and receiving reciprocally.
  • noun The thing given or received in return; esp., a publication exchanged for another.
  • noun (Com.) The process of setting accounts or debts between parties residing at a distance from each other, without the intervention of money, by exchanging orders or drafts, called bills of exchange. These may be drawn in one country and payable in another, in which case they are called foreign bills; or they may be drawn and made payable in the same country, in which case they are called inland bills. The term bill of exchange is often abbreviated into exchange.
  • noun (Law) A mutual grant of equal interests, the one in consideration of the other. Estates exchanged must be equal in quantity, as fee simple for fee simple.
  • noun The place where the merchants, brokers, and bankers of a city meet at certain hours, to transact business; also, the institution which sets regulations and maintains the physical facilities of such a place. In this sense the word was at one time often contracted to 'change
  • noun See under Arbitration.
  • noun See under Bill.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English eschaungen, from Anglo-Norman eschaungier, from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre : Latin ex-, ex- + Late Latin cambīre, to exchange, barter; see change.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English eschaunge, from Anglo-Norman eschaunge, from Old French eschange (whence modern French échange), from the verb eschanger, from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre, present active infinitive of *excambiō (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō). Spelling later changed on the basis of ex- in English.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English eschaungen, from Anglo-Norman eschaungier, eschanger, from the Old French verb eschangier, eschanger (whence modern French échanger), from Vulgar Latin *excambiāre, present active infinitive of *excambiō (from Latin ex with Late Latin cambiō).

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Examples

  • An important part of the growing global integration of the early modern era was the exchange of many new goods and products both interregionally and globally (called the “Columbian exchange”).

    b. The Exchange of New Products 2001

  • It takes practice and forethought to find a relaxed way to communicate all necessary information while maintaining one's seductive edge; the phrase "exchange of bodily fluids" is probably best avoided.

    How to own up to an STI 2011

  • You are correct that consensual sex without first demanding a slab of juicy mastodon meat in exchange is a happier assumption.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » “I, for One, Welcome My Neandertal Ancestry” 2010

  • It takes practice and forethought to find a relaxed way to communicate all necessary information while maintaining one's seductive edge; the phrase "exchange of bodily fluids" is probably best avoided.

    How to own up to an STI 2011

  • Central to this exchange is the idea that the media owner has gathered an audience that the brand wants to address.

    Kirk Cheyfitz: Advertising's Future Is 3 Simple Words: Paid. Owned. Earned. Kirk Cheyfitz 2010

  • Central to this exchange is the idea that the media owner has gathered an audience that the brand wants to address.

    Kirk Cheyfitz: Advertising's Future Is 3 Simple Words: Paid. Owned. Earned. Kirk Cheyfitz 2010

  • I think the exchange is the most important part of the bill in reality – it has an effect on cost – the public option may have a direct effect on costs but everyone if they were honest was never sure it would have the effect they claim it would.

    Think Progress » Let The Cameras Roll 2010

  • A TSE spokesman also said that the exchange is aware of investor concerns over falls in shares of companies before those companies announced share issues, and that worries about widespread insider trading are dampening investor appetite in the Japanese market.

    Suspicious Trading in Tokyo Shares Ayai Tomisawa 2010

  • Central to this exchange is the idea that the media owner has gathered an audience that the brand wants to address.

    Kirk Cheyfitz: Advertising's Future Is 3 Simple Words: Paid. Owned. Earned. Kirk Cheyfitz 2010

  • But if this exchange is a further example of what I have been calling Romantic Occidentalism, Gordon's final comment also contrasts that Occidentalism to an ideal of reading familiar from our discussion of Byron.

    Byron and Romantic Occidentalism 2008

  • What Is an ETF? An exchange traded fund (ETF) is a type of security that tracks an index, sector, commodity, or other asset, but which can be purchased or sold on a stock exchange the same way a regular stock can. An ETF can be structured to track anything from the price of an individual commodity to a large and diverse collection of securities. ETFs can even be structured to track specific investment strategies. A well-known example is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 Index. ETFs can contain many types of investments, including stocks, commodities, bonds, or a mixture of investment types. An exchange traded fund is a marketable security, meaning it has an associated price that allows it to be easily bought and sold. Key Takeaways An exchange traded fund (ETF) is a basket of securities that trade on an exchange just like a stock does. ETF share prices fluctuate all day as the ETF is bought and sold; this is different from mutual funds that only trade once a day after the market closes. ETFs can contain all types of investments including stocks, commodities, or bonds; some offer U.S.-only holdings, while others are international. ETFs offer low expense ratios and fewer broker commissions than buying the stocks individually does. An ETF is called an exchange traded fund because it's traded on an exchange just like stocks are. The price of an ETF’s shares will change throughout the trading day as the shares are bought and sold on the market. This is unlike mutual funds, which are not traded on an exchange, and trade only once per day after the markets close. Additionally, ETFs tend to be more cost-effective and more liquid when compared to mutual funds.

    Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) Full Bio 2022

Comments

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  • In chess, this word is often used in "exchange sacrifice", meaning giving up a rook for either a knight or bishop.

    February 21, 2007

  • See metathesis for wordplay usage.

    May 23, 2008