huckster

1) A retailer of small goods or even a hawker, a term recorded in the OED from <i>c</i>.1200 and found in Yorkshire as a by-name.

1377 Coletta Hukster, York. It occurred several times in the city in 1394, always with reference to women dealing in cloth, e.g. ‘Of Alice Hukester for 6 ells of meld 1d’. In 1411-2 there was concern there over hukesters of brede and in 1479 the ordinances of the bakers made mention of bredes in covert wise broght to the housez of the hukesters ... to be solde. Similarly, in Beverley in 1596, ‘no foreigner was to leave any bread with any huckster for sale in the town’ after a certain hour. The term remained in active use: 1642 Wee buy our Molten tallowe att Malton of the Hucksters and tripe-wives, Elmswell

1664 Jane Simpson, huckster, having chirryes to sell Dorothy ... bought of her a pound, Newcastle.

dates 1377 1394 1411-1412 1479 1596 1642 1664

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