market

*in the market (for something)

Fig. wanting to buy something. (*Typically: be ~; find oneself ~.) I'm in the market for a new camera. If you have a boat for sale, we're in the market.

*on the market

openly available for sale. (*Typically: be ~; get something ~; put something ~.) We put our house on the market last year and it still hasn't sold.

a drug on the market and a glut on the market

something that is on the market in great abundance. Right now, small computers are a drug on the market. Twenty years ago, small transistor radios were a glut on the market.

See also: drug

corner the market on something and corner the something market

Fig. to develop or obtain a monopoly of something. The company sought to corner the market on frozen yogurt. Standard Oil had the oil market cornered at the end of the nineteenth century.

See also: corner

like a blind dog in a meat market

Rur. out of control. The drunk staggered out of the saloon like a blind dog in a meat market, stumbling all over the sidewalk. The kids tore through the museum like a blind dog in a meat market, touching everything they weren't supposed to touch.

See also: blind, dog, like, meat

play the (stock) market

to invest in the stock market. (As if it were a game or as if it were gambling.) Would you rather put your money in the bank or play the market? I've learned my lesson playing the market. I lost a fortune.

See also: play

price someone or something out of the market

to raise or lower a price and drive someone or something out of the marketplace. You are a very good singer, but your agent has priced you out of the market. The discount prices posted by the chain store were meant to price us out of the market.

See also: out, price

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a cattle market  (British, American & Australian informal) also a meat market (American & Australian informal)

a place where people go to see sexually attractive women or to find sexual partners Beauty contests are just cattle markets. That new nightclub called The Venue is awful - it's a real meat market.

be in the market for something

to be interested in buying something and to have the money to be able to do so As lovely as it is, we're really not in the market for a five-bedroomed house.

See corner the market

corner the market

to become so successful at selling or making a particular product that almost no one else sells or makes it They've more or less cornered the fast-food market - they're in every big city in the country.

See also: corner

the bottom drops/falls out of the market

if the bottom drops out of the market of a product, people stop buying it The bottom fell out of the art market and dealers were left with hundreds of unsaleable paintings.

See also: bottom, drop, out

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corner the market also have a corner on the market

to control the supply or sale of a particular product The company tried to corner the market on several types of computer software.

See also: corner

in the market for something

interested in buying something I'm not in the market for a car at the moment.

on the market

for sale We put our house on the market last spring.

play the market

to try to earn money by buying and selling shares in companies These traders are people who play the market for profit.

See also: play