ex•change
Pronunciation: (iks-chānj'), [key]
— v., n. -changed, -chang•ing,
—v.t.
- to give up (something) for something else; part with for some equivalent; change for another.
- to replace (returned merchandise) with an equivalent or something else: Most stores will allow the purchaser to exchange goods.
- to give and receive reciprocally; interchange: to exchange blows; to exchange gifts.
- to part with in return for some equivalent; transfer for a recompense; barter: to exchange goods with foreign countries.
- to capture (an enemy piece) in return for a capture by the opponent generally of pieces of equal value.
—v.i.
- to make an exchange; engage in bartering, replacing, or substituting one thing for another.
- to pass or be taken in exchange or as an equivalent.
—n.
- the act, process, or an instance of exchanging: The contesting nations arranged for an exchange of prisoners; money in exchange for services.
- something that is given or received in exchange or substitution for something else: The car was a fair exchange.
- a place for buying and selling commodities, securities, etc., typically open only to members.
- a central office or central station: a telephone exchange.
- the method or system by which debits and credits in different places are settled without the actual transfer of money, by means of bills of exchange representing money values.
- the discharge of obligations in different places by the transfer of credits.
- the amount or percentage charged for exchanging money, collecting a draft, etc.
- the reciprocal transfer of equivalent sums of money, as in the currencies of two different countries.
- the giving or receiving of a sum of money in one place for a bill ordering the payment of an equivalent sum in another.
- See
- the amount of the difference in value between two or more currencies, or between the values of the same currency at two or more places.
- the checks, drafts, etc., exchanged at a clearinghouse.
- a reciprocal capture of pieces of equivalent value by opponents in a single series of moves.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.