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

On Sunday, a man who allegedly made threats while trying to steal a shopping cart full of merchandise was shot by an Orange County deputy near a Walmart on East Colonial Drive in east Orange, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said. —Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 23 Feb. 2026

The crackdown on stray shopping carts. —Nicole Fallert, USA Today, 23 Feb. 2026

The ride-hailing company said on Wednesday that its food delivery platform is debuting a new AI assistant that lets customers build a shopping cart using text or images, like handwritten grocery lists. —Samantha Subin, CNBC, 11 Feb. 2026

Head to the Deals Finder, start your shopping carts, and get out there. —The Editors, Outside, 5 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1934, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for shopping cart

• counterpart
• apart
• depart
• flowchart
• forepart
• impart
• pushcart
• rampart
• redstart
• restart
• subpart
• sweetheart