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.

Derived terms edit

Translations edit

Further reading edit