α. late Middle English–1600s retailler, 1500s–1600s retayler, 1500s retayller, 1500s–1600s retaler, 1500s– retailer.
β. 1600s retalier.
retailern.
/ˈriːteɪlə/, U.S. /ˈriˌteɪlər/ (in sense 2 also)Brit. /rᵻˈteɪlə/, U.S. /rəˈteɪlər/, /riˈteɪlər/ 1. A person who sells goods by retail; a retail shop or business.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > retailer
tapster1402
retailour1445
tapper1478
wisseler1481
retailer1489
retail1838
α.
β. 1685 T. Budd Good Order established in Amer. 17 The Moneys paid by Bills of Exchange, and the Retalier makes commonly on Goods thus bought.1489–90 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VII (Electronic ed.) Parl. Jan. 1489 §20. m. 6 Every marchant,..artyficer, retailler, inholdder [etc.].
a1525 Coventry Leet Bk. 334 They woll that no retaylers in the Cete take no hyr for the lone of strykis, half-strykis nor hopus lande to the salters.
1547 Act I Edw. VI c. 6 §1 Certaine parsons called Retaylers of the same Wooles.
1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. iv. f. 105v/2, in R. Holinshed Chron. I The fourth and last sort of people..are day labourers.., and some retaylers.
1633 (title) A proclamation restraining the abusive venting of tobacco.., that retailers must take out a license.
1662 W. Petty Treat. Taxes 13 It ought to be known..how many retailers are needful to make the subdistributions.
1705 F. Fuller Medicina Gymnastica 105 The Female Retailers of Physick would..take it Ill, if..I should forget their Preparations.
1781 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall (1787) II. xvii. 70 The diligent mechanic, and even the most obscure retailer of a sequestered village.
1830 M. Donovan Domest. Econ. II. vii. 337 The retailers almost invariably roast their coffee too little.
1871 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues II. 26 Retailers sit in the market-place to save the time of the producers.
1936 Fortune Oct. 25/2 (advt.) And, claim the retailers, the brands that are packaged in these beautifully printed wrappers are almost always best sellers.
1973 ‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog xi. 145 The only retailer who handled the macabre Belgian masks had a novelty shop in High Holborn.
2005 Daily Tel. 3 May 9/1 The ‘Tesco effect’, shorthand for the squeezing of suppliers by the big retailers.
2. A person who repeats or recounts something in detail.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > speech > narration > [noun] > narrator
teller1340
expositora1398
accounterc1400
reporterc1405
provinoura1475
recounter1485
relator1588
relater1598
repeater1598
narrator1599
retailer1607
nomenclator1628
enarrator1632
accountant1655
relatist1656
narrater1758
narratrix1796
narratress1798
1607 T. Campion Discr. Maske Ld. Hayes To Rdr. sig. D2 Suffer them whose browes do sweat To gaine honour by the great. Its enough if men me name A Retailer of such fame.
1706 tr. J. B. Morvan de Bellegarde Refl. upon Ridicule 16 Retailers of Fooleries, Dealers in Scandal.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones VI. xvii. vii. 136 Mrs. Miller..had received a full Account from the faithful Retailer Partridge. View more context for this quotation
1815 W. H. Ireland Scribbleomania 150 The catalogue of..retailers of the wonderful.
1876 L. Stephen Hours in Libr. 2nd Ser. v. 156 No one is..so generally unpopular as a clever retailer of gossip.
1936 ‘G. Orwell’ Keep Aspidistra Flying i. 14 Not an artist himself, exactly, but a hanger-on of the arts; frequenter of studios, retailer of scandal.
1997 G. Sandy Greek World Apuleius iii. 112 Second-century retailers of scholastically sanctioned anecdotes as Diogenes Laërtius, Dio Chrysostom [etc.].
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2010; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1489