greengrocern.
/ˈɡriːnˌɡrəʊsə/, U.S. /ˈɡrinˌɡroʊsər/ A retail dealer in vegetables and fruit; (also) a shop selling these.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > seller of fruit and vegetables
kale-seller1483
greengrocer1723
1723 London Gaz. No. 6188/9 Samuel Stubley..Green-Grocer.
1791 J. Boswell Life Johnson anno 1752 I. 135 Covent-garden, where the green-grocers and fruiterers were beginning to arrange their hampers.
1793 ‘P. Pindar’ Poet. Epist. to Pope 3 As from their shops, Green-grocers, for the palate Deal garden-stuff of all complexion.
1816 Sporting Mag. 47 255 A green grocer of Brighton was convicted..for..exposing in his shop..twenty partridges and two hares.
1861 W. G. Clark in F. Galton Vacation Tourists & Trav. 1860 17 A species of tax..is levied [in Naples] upon cabmen, small greengrocers, fishmongers, and other tradesmen.
1920 R. A. Freeman Savant's Vendetta vi. 114 In addition to the handcart, there was now a coster's barrow, the property of a greengrocer, to whom also belonged a quantity of lumber.
1960 N.Y. Times 24 May 33 Ask Italian greengrocers for arugula, rucola or ruccoli; ask other markets for..rocket salad or, simply, rocket.
2005 Olive July 12/1 The sprouting leaves are available in punnets from some greengrocers, delis and health food shops.
Compounds
greengrocer's apostrophe n. (also greengrocers' apostrophe) [ < the genitive of greengrocer n. (or its plural) + apostrophe n.2, with allusion to the apparent frequency of its use among greengrocers (compare quot. 1991)] British an apostrophe used irregularly; spec. one placed before the terminal s of a plural noun (cf. apostrophe n.2 2).
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1991 K. Waterhouse English our English 43 Greengrocers, for some reason, are extremely generous with their apostrophes—banana's, tomatoe's (or tom's), orange's etc. Perhaps these come over in crates of fruit, like exotic spiders.]
1992 Oxf. Compan. Eng. Lang. 75/1 The apostrophe of plurality continues in at least five areas:... In the non-standard (‘illiterate’) use often called in BrE the greengrocer's apostrophe, as in apple's 55p per lb and We sell the original shepherds pie's.
1993 Independent (Nexis) 14 Feb. 23 The best greengrocer's apostrophe I've ever seen is ‘asparagu's’.
2000 Scotsman (Electronic ed.) 3 July Linguistic pedants are still engaged in debate about the greengrocers' apostrophe and the vital difference between implication and inference.
2018 Guardian (Electronic ed.) 7 May Arguably more offensive was his flagrant use of the greengrocer's apostrophe (‘ladie's’, ‘chicken's’).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1723