monger — English Dictionary

Noun

1. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word. A dealer or trader in a specific commodity.

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   [S]ometime one rich munger or other, buying up a commoditie, and bringing it vvholly into his ovvne hands for to have the monopolie of it, raiſeth the market, and enhaunceth the price: […]

   With Cracken the attorney, and Mundell the quack, / Send Willie the monger to hell with a smack.

   For the freshest wild catch, ask your monger when the fish are running.

2. Chiefly preceded by a descriptive word. A person promoting something, especially an undesirable thing.

   Usage

   • Figurative

   Examples

   More examples (2)

   There is a man haunts the Forreſt, that abuſes our yong plants vvith caruing Roſalinde on their barkes; hangs Oades vpon Hauthornes, and Elegies on brambles; all (forſooth) defying the name of Roſalinde. If I could meet that Fancie-monger, I vvould giue him ſome good counſel, for he ſeemes to have the Quotidian of Loue vpon him.

   Fvt[elli]. I am not foot-poaſt, / No pedlar of Aviſo's, no monopoliſt / Of forged Corantos, monger of Gazets. / Pie[ro]. Monger of courtezans, fine Futelli, / In certaine kinde a merchant of the ſtaple / For vvares of uſe and trade, a taker up.

   [T]he impatient Stateſ-Monger / Could novv contain himſelf no longer, / VVho had not ſpar'd to ſhevv his Piques, / Againſt th' Haranguers Politicks?

   More examples (4)

   The nice punctilio-mongers of this age, / The grand minute reformers of the ſtage, / Slaves to propriety of ev'ry kind, / Some ſtandard-meaſure for each part ſhould find; […]

   Yet I hold as little with the humanity-mongers, who deny the necessity and lawfulness of inflicting capital punishment in any case, as with the shallow moralists, who exclaim against vindictive justice, when punishment would cease to be just, if it were not vindictive.

   As a rule, a knight is a lummux, and sometimes even a labrick, and hence open to pretty poor arguments when they come glibly from a superstition-monger, but even he could see the practical side of a thing once in a while; […]

   For the greatest lunacy of all is that not one of them can see the smallest reason why any human being should be allowed to live unless in addition to supporting himself he can produce a privately appropriable profit for a shareholder or a rent for a landlord. Why, they argue, should anyone organize the work of propertyless men merely to produce their own food? […] At such a point youths of spirit become car bandits and racketeers and kidnappers. What else do our crazy conference-mongers expect?

Verb

1. To deal in, peddle, or sell (something).

   Usage

   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   mong

   Examples

   More examples (1)

   There were Mongols hawking sheepskins and Chinese vending calendars and pocket calculators, North Koreans flogging jewelry and Vietnamese mongering shirts and leather jackets.

2. To promote (something, especially an undesirable thing); to peddle.

   Usage

   • Figurative
   • Transitive

   Synonyms

   mong

   Examples

   She [Grace Kelly] was beautiful and elegant but, above all, good. […] Not even Hedda Hopper could monger scandal in her regard.

   More examples (1)

   [T]he paper towel industry has funded or promoted a rash of studies claiming that hand dryers turn bathrooms into mosh pits of pathogens. […] Once these fears have been mongered, their spread is irresistible.

Noun

1. A small seagoing vessel used for fishing.

   Usage

   • Obsolete
   • Transitive

   Examples

   [C]erteyne Fyſhermen that go a trawlyng for fyſhe in Catches or mongers, and dradgies for Oyſters about the ſandes, […]

   monger: a small sea-vessel used by fishermen.

Noun

1. someone who purchases and maintains an inventory of goods to be sold

   Synonyms

   traderbargainerdealer

   Broader terms

   merchantmerchandiser

Verb

1. sell or offer for sale from place to place

   Synonyms

   peddlehucksterhawkvendpitch

   Broader terms

   dealselltrade