shopping cart

noun

1

: a metal or plastic cart with four small wheels that is used for holding merchandise when shopping (as at a supermarket or department store)

… about the only amenities besides the jumbo-sized shopping carts are a few flatbed dollies to allow shoppers to get large appliances like refrigerators and washing machines to the cash register and then out to the parking lot.

—Jean Crichton

2

: a temporary record of items selected for eventual purchase from an online vendor's website

To set up shop on the Internet, you need a commerce-enabled Web site, which includes the electronic shopping cart; a connection to the credit card network; and finally, a merchant account …

—Tom Negrino

Delivery charges are the No. 1 reason shoppers abandon a virtual shopping cart, according to Jupiter Media Metrix. Every Internet shopper has a shipping-charge horror story.

—Ellen Neuborn

Examples of shopping cart in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Keep raw meat, poultry and fish away from other foods in your shopping cart, bags and refrigerator. —Sheah Rarback, Miami Herald, 29 Jan. 2025

Random shopping carts, laundry baskets and bundles of clothes were scattered in the empty crevices indicating the space was once someone’s home, though no one was there. —Desiree Mathurin, Charlotte Observer, 24 Jan. 2025

But my shopping cart is still piled high with wintry decor finds under $40 from Walmart’s moody home edit. —Alyssa Brascia, People.com, 22 Jan. 2025

That captive audience made TikTok an influential player in Hollywood and on Madison Avenue, not to mention in shopping carts as viral products flew off store shelves after trending there. —Jessica Guynn, USA TODAY, 19 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1