- traffic
-
I. noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle French trafique, from Old Italian traffico, from trafficare to trade in coastal waters
Date: 1549
1.
a. import and export trade
b. the business of bartering or buying and selling
c. illegal or disreputable usually commercial activity <the drug traffic> 2. a. communication or dealings especially between individuals or groups b. exchange <a lively traffic in ideas — F. L. Allen> 3. archaic wares, goods 4. a. (1) the movement (as of vehicles or pedestrians) through an area or along a route (2) the vehicles, pedestrians, ships, or planes moving along a route (3) congestion of vehicles <stuck in traffic> b. the information or signals transmitted over a communications system ; messages 5. a. the passengers or cargo carried by a transportation system b. the business of transporting passengers or freight 6. the volume of customers visiting a business establishment <restaurant traffic> 7. a concentration of participants or players and especially defensive players <force difficult shots in traffic> Synonyms: see business II. verb (trafficked; trafficking) Date: 1540 intransitive verb 1. to carry on traffic 2. to concentrate one's effort or interest; broadly engage, deal <a writer who often traffics in hyperbole> transitive verb 1. a. to travel over <heavily trafficked highways> b. to visit (as a business establishment) as a customer <a highly trafficked book store> 2. trade, barter • trafficker noun
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.