op shop

English

Alternative forms

• op-shop

Etymology

From contraction of opportunity + shop.

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

op shop (plural op shops)

1. (Australia, New Zealand) A shop, usually operated by a charity, to which new or used goods are donated, for sale at a low price.
   • 2001, Gwen Harwood, John Harwood, G. C. Kratzmann, editors, A Steady Storm of Correspondence: Selected Letters of Gwen Harwood, 1943-1995, page 446:

     The Lutherans, who have an Op Shop not far from ours, made friendly comparisons with the kind and quality of the goods. They had to get in through our Op Shop to the lower vestry and as they passed looked at our shelves and said ‘Amazing what people bring in’ and ‘We get quite a few of them too’.

   • 2005, Catherine Bateson, Millie And the Night Heron, page 21:

     The Red Cross Op-Shop was the best. It didn′t have that op shop smell, even, and for once there were young people working there. Not that I′m against old ladies in op shops, but I think it′s pretty cool to walk into an op shop where the radio is tuned to FM and there′s an essential-oil burner on the counter.

   • 2006, Sofie Laguna, Bird and Sugar Boy, unnumbered page:

     I was in the op shop with Dad because we needed something to make me look like a pineapple for the school concert, which was about the five food groups. Dad was looking for green clothes that could be the top of the pineapple.

   • 2007, Cate Kennedy, Everything $2 on this Rack, Lindy Cameron (editor), Scarlet Stiletto: The First Cut, unnumbered page,

     Op-shops always have a rack like this - it′s where they put unusual stuff. Once, in a small country op-shop in New South Wales, I found a fabulous red ballgown made in 1952... but I digress.

Synonyms

• (UK) charity shop
• (US) thrift shop, thrift store
• (shop where donated goods are sold cheaply): oppie (slang abbreviation)

Translations

thrift shop — see thrift shop

See also

• Oxfam

Anagrams

• hoppos