peddler

See also: Peddler

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

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
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

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

Translations
drug dealer — see drug dealer

Further reading
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