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

Imagine refreshing an online shopping cart only to see the price of your favorite jacket jump $20 in minutes. —Durga Krishnamoorthy, Forbes.com, 3 July 2025

Her mother was very ill, but to die pushing a shopping cart full of papers and clothing across Northgate Boulevard? —Ariane Lange, Sacbee.com, 27 June 2025

Volunteers prepared brown bags in shopping carts and small vases of flowers for the list of scheduled visitors. —Damenica Ellis, Charlotte Observer, 19 June 2025

By Saturday afternoon, bright orange shopping carts from Home Depot and a blue recycling bin were scattered across the boulevard. —Rachel Uranga, Los Angeles Times, 7 June 2025

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