"grim trade" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it to refer to an unpleasant business transaction, either literal or figurative. For example: "Much was sacrificed in the grim trade for power and influence."
The first, A Cure for Death, broadcast yesterday, was a saga of corrupt Harley Street doctors, drug-dealing and the grim trade in body parts.
The discovery of a headless corpse below the cliffs of the Isle of Wight leads Faraday to the grim trade in human cargo, from cheap labour to prostitution, with which Portsmouth - as one of the country's biggest ports - is rife.
PAGE A11 Springfield Journal A Memorial to a Grim Trade The Museum of Funeral Customs in Springfield, Ill., is a shrine to the rites and rituals of preparing the dead.
Geiger, who has an uncanny gift for separating truth from lies, deals in "information retrieval" for an assortment of corporate clients and shady individuals, but he has little use for electroshock or waterboarding or any of the extreme methods employed by other practitioners of his grim trade.
The policy and political bottom line of today's grim trade data: Americans' election-year trade revolt is spot on and we need a new American trade policy.
Crouching in the darker corners, or locked up in nearby houses, children are also for sale – part of the underground market and its grim trade in child sex.
Nevertheless, even for those observers who had been expecting a rather grim trading statement, yesterday's figures were a surpise.
On Thursday Ocado announced sales growth at the top end of expectations despite grim trading conditions for food retailers.
Analysts had been expecting a grim trading update – with sales down by up to 3% until industry data released this week indicated Tesco had turned things around in December.
But Investors were left shocked by the grim trading update from a company that is normally a model for meeting market expectations.
The grim trading statement came ahead of a shareholder meeting to back an £11bn bail-out from the taxpayer and the emergency takeover by Lloyds TSB.
