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Webster 1913 Edition


Peddle

Ped′dle

,
Verb.
I.
[From
Peddler
.]
1.
To travel about with wares for sale; to go from place to place, or from house to house, for the purpose of retailing goods;
as, to
peddle
without a license
.
2.
To do a small business; to be busy about trifles; to piddle.

Ped′dle

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Peddled
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Peddling
.]
To sell from place to place; to retail by carrying around from customer to customer; to hawk; hence, to retail in very small quantities;
as, to
peddle
vegetables or tinware
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Peddle

PED'DLE

,
Verb.
I.
To be busy about trifles.
1.
To travel about the country and retail goods. He peddles for a living.

PED'DLE

,
Verb.
T.
To sell or retail, usually by traveling about the country.

Definition 2024


peddle

peddle

English

Verb

peddle (third-person singular simple present peddles, present participle peddling, simple past and past participle peddled)

  1. To sell things, especially door to door.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
  2. To sell illegal narcotics.
  3. (derogatory, figuratively) To spread or cause to spread.
    • 2009, Michael John Beashel, Unshackled (page 166)
      Christine walked a dangerous line, peddling gossip about her detested son-in-law.
    • 2012, Niamh O'Connor, Taken (page 166)
      Roberts was a drug dealer, nicknamed 'King Krud', who peddled death and misery.
    • 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport):
      Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.

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