Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Wholesale

Wholesale , noun

Sale of goods by the piece or large quantity, as distinguished from retail.
Some, from vanity or envy, despise a valuable book, and throw contempt upon it by wholesale. — I. Watts
Collocations (1)
By wholesale , in the mass; in large quantities; without distinction or discrimination.

Wholesale , adjective

1.
Pertaining to, or engaged in, trade by the piece or large quantity; selling to retailers or jobbers rather than to consumers; as, a wholesale merchant; the wholesale price.
2.
Extensive and indiscriminate; as, wholesale slaughter.
A time for wholesale trust. — Mrs. Humphry Ward