Newsseller

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person who sells newspapers, often from a stall or kiosk on the street
2. Someone whose trade is selling newspapers to the public at a shop, stand or on the road
3. The vendor who offers daily papers and periodicals for sale to passing customers

Etymology: A newsseller is simply a person who sells newspapers, formed by joining "news" and "seller," with the "seller" element following the same pattern as words like "bookseller" and "fishmonger" in its straightforward agent sense. The compound is transparent, so there is little hidden history to uncover beyond that. The more useful thing to know is how the word sits beside its near neighbours. "Newsagent" and "newsvendor" cover much the same ground in British and American usage, and "newsboy" or "newsie" names the street-level seller, often a child. "Newsseller" is the least common of these, and dictionaries tend to record it as an ordinary descriptive compound rather than a term with its own tradition.