peddler

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See also: Peddler

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English pedlere, pedlare, pedeler, alteration of Middle English peddere (hawker, peddler), of uncertain origin. Compare Medieval Latin pedārius, from Latin pedāre (to furnish with feet; prop up).

Noun

peddler (plural peddlers)

  1. An itinerant seller of small goods.
    Synonyms: hawker, (obsolete) chapman, huckster, monger, colporteur, solicitor
  2. A drug dealer.
    • 1953, Tom Lehrer, “The Old Dope Peddler”, in Songs by Tom Lehrer, Pantheon, published 1981, page 18:
      Here's a cure for all your troubles / Here's an end to all distress / It's the old dope peddler / With his powdered happiness
  3. (figurative) A fake-news disseminator; A conspiracy-theory propagator.

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Further reading