exchange

• IPA^(key): /ɛksˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/, [ɛkˈst͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ], /ɪksˈt͡ʃeɪnd͡ʒ/

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• Rhymes: -eɪndʒ

From Middle English eschaunge, borrowed 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.

exchange (countable and uncountable, plural exchanges)

1. An act of exchanging or trading.

   All in all, it was an even exchange.

   an exchange of cattle for grain

   I'll help you out this time, depending on what can you give me in exchange.

2. A place for conducting trading.

   The stock exchange is open for trading.

   The old corn exchange has been converted into a music venue.

3. A telephone exchange.
4. (telephony, US) The fourth through sixth digits of a ten-digit phone number (the first three before the introduction of area codes).

   The 555 exchange is reserved for use by the phone company, which is why it's often used in films.

   NPA-NXX-1234 is standard format, where NPA is the area code and NXX is the exchange.

5. A conversation.

   After a lengthy exchange with the manager, we were no wiser.

   • 2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian‎:

     'Why bother with the daily grind when you can go to Mosul, get paid $400 a month, get a wife – and live an Islamic way,' went an exchange between two men overheard by a fellow passenger in a taxi. Rumour has it that a woman whose husband died fighting with Isis now receives a generous widow's pension from jihadi coffers.

   • 2022 October 25, Karla Adam, “King Charles III plays role his mother did in U.K. power transition”, in The Washington Post‎:

     The monarch and the prime minister meet weekly, currently on Wednesdays, to discuss matters of state. There is no one else in the room, and many former prime ministers have spoken about how much they have enjoyed the weekly exchanges.

6. (chess) The loss of one piece and associated capture of another.
   1. (usually with "the") The loss of a minor piece (typically a bishop or knight) and associated capture of the more advantageous rook.
7. (obsolete) The thing given or received in return; especially, a publication exchanged for another.
   • 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:

     Lady, as you are mine, I am yours, I giue away my selfe for you, and doat vpon the exchange.

8. (biochemistry) The transfer of substances or elements like gas, amino-acids, ions etc. sometimes through a surface like a membrane.
9. (finance) The difference between the values of money in different places.
10. (law, England and Wales, Northern Ireland) Clipping of exchange of contracts.

From Middle English eschaungen, from Anglo-Norman eschaungier, Old French 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). Gradually displaced native Old English wrixlan, wixlan (“to change, exchange, reciprocate”) and its descendants, wrixle being one of them.

exchange (third-person singular simple present exchanges, present participle exchanging, simple past and past participle exchanged)

1. (transitive) To trade or barter.

   I'll gladly exchange my place for yours.

2. (transitive, figurative) To mutually direct at each other.

   The opposing soldiers exchanged fire across the burning streets.

3. (transitive) To replace with, as a substitute.

   I'd like to exchange this shirt for one in a larger size.

   Since his arrest, the mob boss has exchanged a mansion for a jail cell.

4. (law, England and Wales, Northern Ireland) Clipping of exchange contracts.
5. (transitive) To recommend and get recommendations.

   Synonym: trade

• (trade or barter): truck, wrixle; See also Thesaurus:trade or Thesaurus:barter
• (replace with a substitute): interchange, swap; See also Thesaurus:switch

• “exchange”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “exchange”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “exchange”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.