salesmann.
/ˈseɪlzman/ A man whose business it is to sell goods or conduct sales. Also transferred. The following are specific applications: † b. One who sells ready-made clothing. (Cf. sale n.2 3a.) † d. salesman's dog n. Obsolete a tout.
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a. One who sells goods or produce for another, e.g. one who acts as middleman between the grazier or the killer of cattle and the butcher.
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c. Originally U.S. A commercial traveller (also transferred).
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > professional
salesman?1530
tradesman1591
saleman1642
tradesperson1758
stockist1922
?1530 J. Fitzherbert Bk. Husbandry (rev. ed.) f. xliiii It is not conuenyent that the salesman that selleth the wod to be partener with the byer.
1548 W. Forrest Pleasaunt Poesye 441 in T. Starkey Eng. in Reign King Henry VIII (1878) i. p. xcviv What the Salys-man is the ware ofte dothe teache.
1697 London Gaz. No. 3341/8 Tho, Middleton late of West-Smithfield, London, Salesman, deceased.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Sales-men, brokers who sell Cattel for the Graziers to the Butchers, before, and at the Beast-Market; also Sellers of ready-made Cloaths.
1717 J. Swift in J. Gay Three Hours after Marriage Prol. Poets make Characters, as Salesmen Cloaths.
1718 M. Prior Alma i, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 325 This looks, friend Dick, as Nature had But exercis'd the Salesman's Trade: As if She haply had sat down, And cut out Cloaths for all the Town.
1758 S. Johnson Idler 28 Oct. 233 Miss Mohair the daughter of a Salesman.
1777 J. Howard State Prisons Eng. & Wales 183 A generous Benefactor (a salesman in Smithfield) often sends the Prisoners beef and bread.
1831 W. Youatt Horse iv. 47 He [sc. Eclipse] was..sold at his death to Mr. Wildman, a sheep salesman, for seventy-five guineas.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 378/2 Should the salesman [i.e. a pedlar] succeed with the mistress, he carries out his promise to the maid by presenting her with a cap ribbon, or a cheap neckerchief.
1851 in Illustr. London News (1854) 5 Aug. 119/2 Meat-salesman.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 177/1 ‘Dead salesmen’..that is, the market salesmen of the meat sent..ready slaughtered.
1883 Cotton in Law Times Rep. 49 723/1 The defendants have let all these stalls to salesmen.
1885 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 14 248 Salesmen had brought their carts with fruit or vegetables to Spitalfields Market on the market days.
1891 Law Rep.: Weekly Notes 80/1 A farmer in Northamptonshire sent certain meat to a salesman in the Central Meat market..for sale.
1891 Cent. Dict. Salesman,..a commercial traveler. [U.S.]
1912 J. Sandilands Western Canad. Dict. & Phrase-bk. Salesman, a commercial traveller, a drummer, a store counter-man, or a man who canvasses real estate.
1930 Amer. Speech 6 134 Salesman, confidence man.
1937 Daily Herald 15 Jan. 12/8 Increased employment means that people are replacing old-fashioned furniture for [sic] new, and the attractive designs made possible by veneering are good salesmen.
1942 L. V. Berrey & M. Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §507/3 Pimp; procurer..crack salesman,..salesman.
1944 Amer. Notes & Queries 4 10/2 A transportation company in New Jersey now refers to its drivers and motormen as ‘salesmen’.
1945 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. Suppl. I. 588 American milk-wagon drivers are called milk-salesmen and bakers' deliverymen bread-salesmen.
1968 Current Slang (Univ. S. Dakota) 3 ii. 41 Salesman, pimp; one who sells anything.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > one who canvasses or solicits sales
barker1699
salesman's dog1699
toutera1754
townsman1843
tout1853
canvasser1865
schlepper1894
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Salesman's-dog, the same as Barker.
Derivatives
ˈsalesmanship n. the condition or character of being a (good) salesman; also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > [noun] > professional > condition of being
tradesmanship1817
salesmanship1880
1880 R. D. Blackmore Mary Anerley II. ix. 162 He made a good stroke of salesmanship.
1887 A. Elliot Old Man's Favour I. ii. i. 202 The art-pottery stall, under the attractive salesmanship of Canon Elwyn.
1930 Economist 20 Dec. 1164/2 The Prince of Wales, who is shortly leaving for Buenos Aires, where he will open the British Empire Trade Exhibition, delivered an outspoken address on salesmanship.
1936 Discovery Apr. 129/2 Consult any of the books on psychology and salesmanship so numerous on the market.
1937 P. G. Wodehouse Lord Emsworth & Others v. 172 When a woman is to all intents and purposes waiting for a demon lover, it requires super-salesmanship to induce her to accept on the this-is-just-as-good principle an Ernest Plinlimmon.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 12 Jan. 102/2 Salesmanship in food is liable to be overrated because nothing is more distasteful than..food, when you have had enough.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1909; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.?1530