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vendor

n. · v.
US //ˈvɛndɝ// UK //vˈɛndɐ// ven·dor
  1. 1 a seller or supplier (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    a person or company that sells goods or services.

    a person or business entity that sells something, often used in a commercial or legal context to describe a supplier.

    Example

    The event organisers hired a local food vendor to provide lunch for the guests.

    Example

    The procurement department is currently evaluating several software vendors to find a solution that integrates with our existing database architecture.

  2. 2 street seller (n.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    someone who sells things from a small stall or cart, usually outside.

    a person who sells items, typically food or small wares, from a portable stand or cart in public spaces.

    Example

    We bought some roasted nuts from a street vendor near the park entrance.

    Example

    City officials are debating new regulations that would limit where mobile vendors can park their carts during the busy tourist season.

    • street trader
    • hawker
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  1. 3 vending machine (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical

    a machine that you put money into to get snacks or drinks.

    an automated machine that provides items such as snacks, beverages, or cigarettes to consumers after money or a credit card is inserted.

    Example

    The office has a coffee vendor in the breakroom that takes contactless payments.

    Example

    The facility manager requested a maintenance check on the snack vendor after several employees reported that the coin mechanism was jammed.

  2. 4 to bundle software dependencies (v.)
    C2 Proficiency Technical Computing

    to include all the extra code a program needs inside the program's own files.

    to include third-party library dependencies directly within a project's source tree rather than relying on an external package manager.

    Example

    The developers decided to vendor the library to make sure the app always works.

    Example

    By choosing to vendor their dependencies, the team ensured that the build process remained reproducible even if the upstream repositories became unavailable.

    Usage

    The verb is transitive and takes the dependency or library as its object.

Origin

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman vendor (Old French vendeor), from Latin venditor (“seller”), from vendere (“to sell, cry up for sale, praise”), contraction of venundare, venumdare, also, as originally, two words venum dare (“to sell”), from venum (“sale, price”) + dare (“to give”).

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