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

Any attempt at driving normally is an exercise in futility with the rear-wheel-drive RV handling like a shopping cart full of bricks. — Jason Bennett, Arkansas Online, 19 July 2026

Could smart shopping carts be the next big trend in grocery shopping? — Alexandra Phelps, Miami Herald, 13 July 2026

Federal officials have found that a person’s movements on a website with a computer mouse and items left in an online shopping cart can be tracked and used by retailers to personalize the cost of items. — Stephen Hobbs, Sacbee.com, 11 July 2026

Yet, every sidewalk, shopping cart, and curb seems determined to leave behind a dark scuff mark. — Jessica Safavimehr, Southern Living, 9 July 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