Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Peddle
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 license2.
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 tinwareWebster 1828 Edition
Peddle
PED'DLE
,Verb.
I.
1.
To travel about the country and retail goods. He peddles for a living.PED'DLE
,Verb.
T.
Definition 2024
peddle
peddle
English
Verb
peddle (third-person singular simple present peddles, present participle peddling, simple past and past participle peddled)
- 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.
-
- To sell illegal narcotics.
- (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.
- 2009, Michael John Beashel, Unshackled (page 166)
Related terms
Translations
to sell things, especially door to door
to sell illegal narcotics