Regrate

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To buy up goods such as provisions in bulk and resell them in the same local market at a markup, an old practice now considered profiteering
2. Archaically, to purchase commodities from a market and sell them again nearby for profit, often by cornering supply
3. Describing the act of buying food or wares in one market and reselling them in that same market at an inflated price

Etymology: "Regrate" has a more surprising history than its appearance suggests: it looks like "re-" plus "grate," as in grating cheese, but that surface analysis is misleading. The word comes from Old French "regratter," meaning "to scrape again," and the English sense of the word grew out of that French root rather than from the kitchen verb. The two English words only seem related because they happen to share spelling. The original French idea of scraping was extended into commerce. To "regrate" in English came to mean buying goods, especially provisions such as grain, in one market and reselling them in the same area, often at a higher price. Such dealing was viewed with suspicion because it drove up what ordinary people had to pay for food, so the word carried a moral charge that its scraping origin never suggested.

Synonyms: hoard, monopolize, forestall