Pedder

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A person who sells goods, often small items or merchandise, usually carrying them about from place to place; someone who actively promotes or tries to persuade others to buy or accept something; an individual engaged in the business of vending products directly to customers
2. An individual who trades or hawks merchandise, frequently moving to different locations; a person who persistently solicits or markets goods or services; one involved in retail selling outside of fixed shops
3. A vendor who travels to sell various commodities, often peddling items door-to-door; an active seller who promotes products to potential buyers; a merchant operating through direct, personal sales efforts rather than established stores

Etymology: "Pedder" is an alternative spelling of "peddar," the older form of the word now written "peddler." Its ancestry runs through the verb "peddle," which has long meant to travel from place to place carrying goods for sale, and the noun for the person doing this took the same root with the agent ending "-er." The spelling variants reflect how English writers rendered the same pronunciation over the centuries, so "pedder" and "peddar" are simply two ways of writing one word rather than separate words with separate histories. The word has always described a travelling trader, and the image behind it is one of a seller on foot with a pack of wares moving from village to village. Dictionaries record the spelling "pedder" as a variant of "peddar," which is itself a variant of the form that became standard.

Synonyms: hawker, peddler, vendor, seller, dealer