bazaar, bazar

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bazaar, bazar.
1. Oriental market place or permanent market, usually consisting of ranges of shops or stalls in alleys, roofed over, and capable of being locked after hours. On occasion, a mosque and/or madrasa would be erected associated with a bazaar, and financed by the rent paid by stallholders or shopkeepers (e.g. mosque and madrasa of Sultan Hassan, Cairo, Egypt (c.1356–63) ). One of the finest surviving bazaars is that at Isfahan, Iran (early C17), with arched galleries, a caravanserai, and a commercial area over a mile long (approx. 2 km.), with some examples of the charsu over various crossings.

2. C19 fair for the sale of articles on behalf of charitable or religious objects.

3. Any large shop or collection of shops selling mainly fancy goods.

Bibliography

Cruickshank (ed.) (1996);
K. Morrison (2003);
Oxford English Dictionary (1933);
OED Supplement, i (1987), 222