coasting trade
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Trade between ports of the same country carried on by coasting vessels.
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 “coasting trade” mean?
Trade between ports of the same country carried on by coasting vessels.
Is “coasting trade” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.