Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun One who sells fruit, vegetables, fish, or other goods from a cart, barrow, or stand in the streets.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A hawker of fruits and vegetables. Also
coster , and formerlycostardmonger . - Mercenary; sordid.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An apple seller; a hawker of, or dealer in, any kind of fruit or vegetables; a fruiterer.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun UK a
trader who sellsfruit andvegetables from abarrow in thestreet
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a hawker of fruit and vegetables from a barrow
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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A costermonger is a street seller of fruit and vegetables.
Rare Antique Costermonger Barrows For Sale by Trainspotters.uk.com Thatsnews 2008
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A costermonger is a street seller of fruit and vegetables.
Archive 2008-06-01 Thatsnews 2008
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The costermonger Ewen Keeley used this barrow to sell fruit and vegetables on London's streets.
Rare Antique Costermonger Barrows For Sale by Trainspotters.uk.com Thatsnews 2008
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The costermonger Ewen Keeley used this barrow to sell fruit and vegetables on London's streets.
Archive 2008-06-01 Thatsnews 2008
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A soldier glares at the two Prushim, who suddenly take an interest in the wares of a costermonger. nun vav
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So the sham costermonger could easily and quickly run her truck down to the bottom of the quay, and hide it there till the real owner — who was, in fact, drinking the price of her wares, sold bodily to Asie, in one of the abominable taverns in the Rue de la
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We are as great friends to horses, hackney – coach and otherwise, as the renowned Mr. Martin, of costermonger notoriety, and yet we never ride.
Sketches by Boz 2007
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The daughter of a costermonger, Maisie has risen somewhat above the limitations often encountered by members of her class.
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If a cab should be coming through from the Place de Greve while a costermonger-woman was pushing her little truck of apples in from the Rue du Martroi, a third vehicle of any kind produced difficulties.
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She stood square on her feet, her hands on her hips, for she was dressed as a costermonger.
john commented on the word costermonger
“A costermonger was a street seller of fruit and vegetables. The term, which derived from the words costard (a type of large ribbed apple) and monger, i.e. "seller", came to be particularly associated with the "barrow boys" of London who would sell their produce from a wheelbarrow or wheeled market stall.�?
—Wikipedia
November 20, 2008
zentennum commented on the word costermonger
I found this word in the Brothers Karamazov
A fascinating origin from the New Oxford American Dictionary:
costermonger is an apple-seller, among other things, and the "coster" part comes from "costard," a large ribbed cooking apple. "Costard" also used to be used to refer humorously to a person's head, naturally enough. It is derived from the Latin "costa," for rib or side. The word coast is also derived from this root, coming from the phrase "side of the sea."
August 18, 2011