ruddleman
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom ruddle + -man. First appears in print in 1622, possibly coined by Michael Drayton.
Noun
editruddleman (plural ruddlemen)
- Someone who deals in ruddle (red ochre), usually itinerant and red-stained
- 1622, Michael Drayton, Poly-Olbion, song 23:
- And little Rutlandshire is tearmed Raddleman.
- 1878, Thomas Hardy, The Return of the Native, page 9:
- The traveller with the cart was a reddleman - a person whose vocation was to supply farmers with redding for their sheep.