shopdropping

English

WOTD – 29 November 2024

Etymology

From shop +‎ dropping, modelled on shoplifting.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɒpˌdɹɒpɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈʃɑpˌdɹɑpɪŋ/
• Hyphenation: shop‧drop‧ping

Noun

shopdropping (uncountable)

1. (often art) The covert placing of items in retail stores as a form of advertising, countercultural performance art, protest, etc.

   Synonym: droplifting

   • 2007 December 24, Ian Urbina, “Anarchists in the aisles? Stores provide a stage”, in The New York Times‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-04-19:

     This is the season of frenetic shopping, but for a devious few people it's also the season of spirited shopdropping. Otherwise known as reverse shoplifting, shopdropping involves surreptitiously putting things in stores, rather than illegally taking them out, and the motivations vary.

Related terms

• shopdropper

Translations

covert placing of items in retail stores as a form of advertising, countercultural performance art, protest, etc.

• Finnish: omien tavaroiden jättäminen kauppaan
• Macedonian: please add this translation if you can