shop around

Verb

shop around (third-person singular simple present shops around, present participle shopping around, simple past and past participle shopped around)

1. (intransitive) To actively search and compare options before making a selection or choice of vendor.
   • He's gone to shop around for a new car.
2. (intransitive) To actively make a search for an alternative choice of something one has, owns, or wants, without it necessarily involving buying or selling anything.
   • She's shopping around for a new boyfriend.
   • Before you ask some girl for her hand now / Keep your freedom for as long as you can now / My mama told me, you better shop around.1960, Smokey Robinson, “Shop Around”, performed by The Miracles
3. (transitive) To put something out on offer to multiple parties in the hope one will choose it.
   • He's shopping around his book to several studios. He hopes to get a movie deal.
   • A demo of the Cascades doing "I Wish That We Were Married" was taped and shopped around to various labels.1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 119