apple-wife

English

Noun

apple-wife (plural apple-wives)

1. (archaic) A female apple-seller.
   • 1886 May 1 – July 31, Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Captain Knuckles Under”, in Kidnapped, being Memoirs of the Adventures of David Balfour in the Year 1751: […], London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 1886, →OCLC, page 97:

     Last night ye haggled and argle-bargled like an apple-wife; and then passed me your word, and gave me your hand to back it; and ye ken very well what was the upshot. Be damned to your word!

See also

• costermonger