tranter

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See also: Tranter

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From trant +‎ -er.

Noun

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tranter (plural tranters)

  1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) a peddler.
    • 1872, [Thomas Hardy], “II: The Tranter's”, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, part I, page 13:
      Through the open doorway of a small inner room on the left hand, of a character between pantry and cellar, was Dick Dewy’s father, Reuben, by vocation a ‘tranter’, or irregular carrier.
    • 1879, William Barnes, Poems of Rural Life in the Dorset Dialect, Dobbin Dead
      An’ he met wi’ zome yew-twigs the men had a-cast
      Vrom the yew-tree, in churchyard, the road that he past.
      He wer pweison’d. (1.) O dear, ’tis a hard loss to bear,
      Vor a tranter’s whole bread is a-lost wi’ his meäre;
    • 1929, Florence Hardy, The Early Life of Thomas Hardy, 1841-1891:
      ...the persons tenanting these few houses included two retired military officers, one old navy lieutenant, a small farmer and tranter, a relieving officer and registrar, and an old militiaman []

References

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