plain dealer

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English

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Etymology

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From plain + dealer, after plain dealing.

Noun

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plain dealer (plural plain dealers)

  1. Someone who interacts or does business straightforwardly and honestly. [from 16th c.]
    • c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      Ant. Why thou didst conclude hairy men plain dealers without wit.
      S. Dro. The plainer dealer, the sooner lost; yet he looseth it in a kind of iollitie.
    • 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section VI:
      She as often acted the Plain-Dealer with him, and fairly told him [...] that, in Truth, she had nothign but a very Small Spot to which she had any Hereditary Right [...].
    • 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter number or name)”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. [], London: Chapman and Hall, [], published 1841, →OCLC:
      ‘If plain speakers are scarce in this part of the world, I fancy that plain dealers are still scarcer.’