peddler

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See also: Peddler

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

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).

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (file)

Noun[edit]

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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