| 释义 |
hand-seller, handseller
[f. hand n. + sell v.: app. not from handsel.]
a. An itinerant auctioneer, who sells by ‘Dutch auction’; a ‘cheap Jack’.
b. A street-dealer who carries his stock-in trade in a basket, tray, or the like.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 328 In the provinces, and in Scotland, there may be 100 ‘cheap Johns’, or, as they term themselves, ‘Han-sellers’. Ibid. 354 The sellers of tins, who carry them under their arms, or in any way..apart from the use of a vehicle, are known as hand-sellers. The word hand-seller is construed by the street-traders as meaning literally hand seller, that is to say, a seller of things held or carried in the hand. 1865Daily Tel. 21 Dec. 5/2 A glib ‘hand-seller’..mounted on his rostrum, dilates upon the contents of the volumes which he has to sell. 1879Era 6 Dec., Wanted, One First-class Handseller and Planksman. Apply to Mr. T. H., Auction Vans, Chipping-Norton.
So hand-selling.
1851Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 329 Sometimes its a better game than ‘han-selling’. 1879T. Dixon in W. B. Scott Autobiog. Notes II. 267–8 There is a plan of dealing in books called hand-selling, which is selling by a kind of auction. The upset price..is gradually reduced, till somebody takes it. |