cheapside bargain
Preserved but no longer current.
A weak pun, meaning that the article was bought cheap or under its market value. Cheapside, is on the south side of the Cheap (or Chepe), one of the principal market-places of Old London, so called from A.S. ceapian* to buy, cypan, to sell, ceap, a price or sale.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “cheapside bargain” mean?
A weak pun, meaning that the article was bought cheap or under its market value. Cheapside, is on the south side of the Cheap (or Chepe), one of the principal market-places of Old London, so called from A.S. ceapian* to buy, cypan, to sell, ceap, a price or sale.
Is “cheapside bargain” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.