| 释义 |
▪ I. merchant, n. and a.|ˈmɜːtʃənt|
Forms: α. 3–6 marchaund, 3–7 marchand, 5 merchaund, 5–7 merchand. β. 3–6 marchaunt(e, 3–8 marchant, 4 marchont, machaunt, 5 marzhaunt, 5–6 merchaunt, 4– merchant.
[a. OF. marchand, earlier marchëant (mod.F. marchand) = Pr. mercadan-s, It. mercatante:—popular L. *mercātant-em, pr. pple. of *mercātāre, freq. of mercārī to trade, f. merc-, merx merchandise.
It is possible that two popular Latin forms have coalesced in OF., viz. *mercātantem and mercantem (whence It. mercante merchant), pr. pple. of mercārī (see above).]
A. n.
1. a. One whose occupation is the purchase and sale of marketable commodities for profit; originally applied gen. to any trader in goods not manufactured or produced by himself; but from an early period restricted (exc. Sc. and dial.: see d) to wholesale traders, and esp. to those having dealings with foreign countries.
Often with defining word, indicating the class of goods dealt in, as in coal-, corn-, spirit-, wine-merchant, etc. (some of which combinations are frequently applied to retail traders), or the countries traded with, as East India, Turkey merchant.
c1290S. Eng. Leg. I. 53/2 Seint Fraunceys,..Marchaunt he was in his ȝonghede. a1300Cursor M. 28031 Þe fole marchand is eth to duell. c1320Sir Tristrem 1543 Marchaunt icham, y wis, Mi schip liþ here bi side. c1400Mandeville (1839) xi. 122 Thidre comethe Marchauntes with Marchandise be See. c1460J. Russell Bk. Nurture 1071 in Babees Bk., Marchaundes & Franklonz..may be set semely at a squyers table. 1474Caxton Chesse 42 b, The marchans of cloth lynnen and wollen. 1513More in Grafton Chron. (1568) II. 776 A wise Marchant neuer aduentureth all his goodes in one ship. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scotl. ix. 252 In the meine tyme our Marchantes quha feiret na Ill,..sayled (in haist) to France. 1631Weever Anc. Funeral Mon. 341 He is properly called a Marchant, qui mare trajicit, who passeth ouer the Seas, et merces inde avehit, and from thence transports merchandise. 1644Evelyn Diary 17 Oct., The marchands being very rich, have..no extent of ground to employ their estates in. 1711Addison Spect. No. 21 ⁋7 The Cockle-shell-Merchants and Spider-catchers. 1847A. & H. Mayhew Greatest Plague of Life xii. 183 If three barges and one wagon make a coalheaver, I should like to know what makes a merchant. 1875Jowett Plato (ed. 2) III. 242 The importers and exporters, who are called merchants. 1881R. G. White Eng. Without & Within xvi. 387 He was not a merchant. He had never been engaged in foreign trade.
¶ As a mistranslation of L. mercenarius ‘hireling’.
1382Wyclif John x. 12, 13.
b. transf. and fig.
c1532Latimer Let. to Baynton in Foxe A. & M. (1583) 1751 Maruphus,..an Italian, and in times past a marchaunt of dispensations. 1538Starkey England ii. i. 164 We may by al thyng of God, who ys the only marchant of al thyng that ys gud. a1626Bacon New Atl. (1900) 44 These wee call Merchants of Light. 1818Shelley Marenghi i. 4 Until the exchange Ruins the merchants of such thriftless trade. 1893Westm. Gaz. 15 May 3/2 The gagging low comedian, (‘low comedy merchant’ is the crushing American phrase).
†c. Phrases. to play the merchant with: to cheat, get the better of (a person). to have or put on merchant's ears: to affect not to hear. Obs.
1593Nashe Christ's T. 83 Is it not a common prouerbe..when any man hath cosend..vs, to say, Hee hath playde the Merchant with vs? 1593G. Harvey Pierce's Super. 166 The wisest Oeconomy maketh especiall account of three singular members, a marchants eare; a pigges mouth; and an Asses backe. 1595Lyly Woman in Moone i. i. 169, I see that seruants must haue Marchants ears. 1622Mabbe tr. Aleman's Guzman d'Alf. ii. 7, I put on Merchants Eares, not vouchsafing to give them the hearing. 1632Rowley Woman Never Vext iv. i. 51, I doubt Sir, he will play the merchant with us.
d. A shopkeeper. Now only Sc., north. dial., and U.S.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. ii. 188 Bote Marchaundes Metten with him and maaden him to abyden, Bi-souȝten him in heore schoppes to sullen heore ware. 1609in North Riding Records (1884) I. 15 Will. Foreste of Midleham [presented] for useinge the trade of a marchant, not having served, &c. 1704S. Knight Jrnl. (1825) 56 [The Indians] give the title of merchant to every trader. c1730Burt Lett. N. Scotl. (1818) I. 66 A pedling shopkeeper that sells a pennyworth of thread, is a merchant. 1784J. F. D. Smyth Tour U.S.A. I. 99 Linen-drapers, grocers, stationers, &c. are not known here; they are all comprehended in the single name and occupation of merchant, or store-keeper. 1798Monthly Mag. VI. 437 In Scotland every little retail shop⁓keeper is dignified with the title of merchant. 1809‘D. Knickerbocker’ Hist. N.Y. II. vii. x. 251 If peradventure some straggling merchant of the east, should stop at his door, with his cart load of tin ware or wooden bowls, [etc.]. 1818in Trans. Illinois State Hist. Soc. 1910 162 Dry goods are geting very cheap, the country is full of them; we have more merchants than any thing else. 1837Lockhart Scott (1839) III. 117 A merchant (that is to say a dealer in everything from fine broadcloth to children's tops). 1845De Quincey Autobiog. Wks. 1889 I. 30 My father was a merchant; not in the sense of Scotland, where it means a retail dealer,..but in the English sense. 1853Harper's Mag. Aug. 425/1 The subject, we take it, is the ‘merchant’ of a country-store; quite a different variety from the big bugs of the trade in the Great Metropolis. 1859Bartlett Dict. Amer., Merchant, a term often applied in the United States to any dealer in merchandise, whether at wholesale or retail; and hence sometimes equivalent to ‘shopkeeper’. 1871W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xxxiii. 233 A lounge about the merchant's shop door..is inexpressibly grateful. 1871R. Somers Southern States since War 129 Few are able at the end of the year to square accounts with ‘the merchant’. 1897J. L. Allen Choir Invisible i. 5 A heavy roll of home-spun linen, which she was taking to town to her aunt's merchant as barter for queen's-ware pitchers. 1924Scots Mag. Aug. 342 The merchan's in an awfu' ill teen the day, swearin' like a' that. 1961Buchan Observer 6 June 5 (Advt.), For Sale, by Private Bargain, this well-sited General Merchant's Business, at the junction of the main Fraserburgh and Peterhead Roads. 1975‘E. Lathen’ By Hook or by Crook xiii. 129 An ancient panama..part of the summer uniform demanded of city merchants.
e. Sc. A buyer, purchaser; a customer. Also fig. Phrase, to have one's eye one's merchant: to be one's own appraiser (of goods to be bought).
1673Fountainhall in M. P. Brown Suppl. Dict. Decis. (1826) III. 34 Esto the horse had been insufficient, sibi imputet, his eye being his merchant. 1835J. Monteath Dunblane (1887) 71 (E.D.D.) His aid and assistance in procuring merchants for the goods. 1884D. Grant Lays & Leg. North 83 There wis na want o' merchan's Eager for her hert an' han'.
f. merchant of death, one who makes a profession of war; spec., a dealer in armaments; a mercenary soldier.
1934Engelbrecht & Hanighen Merchants of Death xviii. 261 The business of the arms industry is steadily increasing..and governments are everywhere drawing closer the ties which bind them in a virtual partnership with the merchants of death. 1956C. W. Mills Power Elite viii. 189 Top generals..lived through the general anti-militarist peace of the 'twenties and 'thirties, begging for appropriations, denying the merchants-of-death charges. 1959E. Ambler Passage of Arms ix. 233 Nowadays..we don't hear the phrase ‘merchants of death’ very much. 1963Guardian 11 Jan. 8/1 A mist of superstition and loathing of the trade in arms, of the ‘Merchants of Death’. 1974D. Seaman Bomb that could Lip-Read xi. 98 Inflation would hit a merchant of death as much as any working man.
†2. A supercargo. Obs.
1614Raleigh Hist. World i. iv. ii. §18. 204 Hee..pretending the death of his Marchant, besought the French..that they might burie their Marchant in hallowed ground. 1681R. Knox Hist. Relat. Ceylon iv. i. 118 My Father the Captain ordered me with Mr. John Loveland, Merchant of the Ship, to go on shore.
3. A fellow, ‘chap’. Now usu. with a qualifying word, as speed merchant, denoting one who has an interest in or partiality for the thing specified. slang.
1549Coverdale, etc., Erasm. Par. 2 Cor. 60 Beare this muche with my foolyshenesse,..that synce these marchauntes..so much crake of themselues, that I may also somewhat glorye of my selfe. 1567Drant Horace Ep. i. viii. D vj, A giddie marchaunte I. 1573G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 52 Marchant and marchant were too quiet and soft words for them. 1573New Custom i. i. A iij, I woulde so haue scourged my marchant that his breeche should ake. 1576Fleming Panopl. Epist. 155 You had flatterers and mealemouthed merchants in high estimation. 1606Chapman Gent. Usher Plays 1873 I. 281 Nay good unkle now, sbloud, what captious marchants you be. 1610Carleton Jurisd. vii. 172 The King to hold fast this slippery Merchant, required all the Bishops to set to their..seales to those Lawes. 1886Referee 17 Oct. 2/3 The success of ‘Indiana’ mainly depends upon the extravagant humours of the chief low-comedy merchant. 1909J. R. Ware Passing Eng. 175/2 The theatre coming to be called the ‘shop’, actors dubbed themselves ‘merchants’, qualified by their line. 1914Automotor Jrnl. 246/2 It may be that when the new road has been built the speed merchant and the road⁓hog..may pay their money and betake themselves to their favourite seaside haunt at any speed they like. 1919J. Buchan Mr. Standfast ix. 176 Some movie-merchant had got a graft with the Government, and troops had been turned out to make a war film. 1923Daily Mail 15 Feb. 6 The chauffeur of a motor-car has a rain-blurred wind⁓screen, and the goggled ‘speed-merchant’ cannot see so well as usual. 1929A. Conan Doyle Maracot Deep 244 Storr, the googlie merchant, had a better showing with four for ninety-six. 1933D. L. Sayers Murder must Advertise xviii. 316 He was now faced by the merchant with the off-break. The first two balls he treated carefully. 1957Railway Mag. Nov. 752/2 One wonders how many drivers, other than the confirmed speed merchants, will even attempt to run the 8.20 a.m. from Kings Cross from Hitchin to Huntingdon in 24 min. 1963Pix 28 Sept. 63 Being a good weather ‘merchant’ is one of the finest refinements in surfing. 1970D. Francis Rat Race vi. 83 Here is this bloody bomb merchant running around loose with no one knowing what he'll do next. 1971Guardian 24 Sept. 13 Anthony Tucker on America's leading doom merchant Mister Catastrophe. 1971G. Sims Deadhand ii. iii. 97 Sorry to be such a gloom merchant. But..we're broke, you see.
4. A trading vessel, merchantman.
1585T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. i. iv, [The pirates] lye in wayte thereabouts to entrap..merchauntes comming thyther too lade salte. 1586Marlowe Tamburl. i. ii, And Christian merchants that with Russian stems Plough up huge furrows in the Caspian sea. 1610Shakes. Temp. ii. i. 5 Some Saylors wife, The Masters of some Merchant, and the Merchant Haue iust our Theame of woe. 1709Lond. Gaz. No. 4533/2 The Enemy took 9 of the Merchants. 1740Johnson Blake Wks. 1787 IV. 371 A fleet of merchants under his convoy. 1899Kipling Five Nations (1903) 8 The pot-bellied merchant foreboding no wrong With headlight and side⁓light he lieth along. 1905J. Masefield Mainsail Haul 65 There's a fat merchant on the coast... We're going out for her.
†5. A kind of plum. Obs.
1602Dekker Satirom. F 4 b, I am..to desire you to fill your little pellies at a dinner of plums behinde noone; there be Suckets, and Marmilads, and Marchants, and other long white plummes.
6. attrib. and Comb.
a. Obvious combinations, chiefly appositive, as merchant † appraiser, merchant buyer, merchant-charterer, merchant-duke, merchant-factor, merchant-jeweller, merchant-king, † merchant leech, † merchant mercer, merchant preacher, merchant shipper, merchant-sovereign, merchant-wine-tunner, merchant woman; also merchant-marring adj.
1663in Picton L pool Munic. Rec. (1883) I. 240 Assessed by the *marchant apprizers.
1670Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 93 No *Merchant buyer of Oar shall touch the King's Dish.
1841Penny Cycl. XXI. 403/1 The *merchant-charterer is thereby discharged.
1818Byron Ch. Har. iv. lx, All hues Of gem and marble, to encrust the bones Of *merchant-dukes.
1585Parsons Chr. Exerc. ii. iii. 13 Consider attentiuely, as a good *marchantfactor is wont to do, when he is arriued in a strange country. 1853Lynch Self-Improv. 25 Barks as it were manned and laden of God's merchant-factors, the saints and sages.
1800Asiatic Ann. Reg., Misc. Tracts 41/2 His profession of *merchant-jeweller.
c1820S. Rogers Italy (1839) 55 Of old the residence of *merchant kings.
1402Rolls of Parlt. III. 519/2 Wolmongers..*Marchant Leche..Taillours [etc.].
1596Shakes. Merch. V. iii. ii. 274 And not one vessell scape the dreadfull touch Of *Merchant-marring rocks?
1591Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii 522 You *Marchant Mercers and Monopolites, Gain-greedy Chapmen [etc.].
1531Elyot Governor i. xxi. (1557) 69 As fastidiouse or fulsome to the readers as suche *marchante preachers be nowe to their customers.
1912Pitman's Commercial Encycl. & Dict. Business II. 822/1 We will take as an example an indent for cotton goods, such as a large firm of *merchant shippers would receive. 1919Brit. Manufacturer Nov. 16/2 Orders may..be distributed by the merchant shipper of this country.
1826Pounden France & Italy 82 These *merchant-sovereigns..importing in their galeons the precious relics of ancient literature.
1766Entick London IV. 350 The vintners..were known by the name of *Merchant-wine-tunners of Gascoyne.
1560J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 120 This whiche I have spoken here of marchauntmen, concerneth also *marchaunt women called nunnes.
b. Special combinations: merchant-bar, a bar of ‘merchant’ iron; † merchant-booth Sc., a trader's stall; merchant (formerly † merchant's) iron, iron in finished bars, ready for the market; merchant's mark († merchant mark), a rebus, emblem, or other distinctive figure or device adopted by a merchant to be placed on the goods sold by him; in the Middle Ages often used (e.g. on seals or monuments) as a quasi-heraldic cognizance (cf. ‘merkes of marchauntes’ quot. c 1394 under mark n.1 11 a); merchant prince (? suggested by Isaiah xxiii. 8), a merchant of princely wealth and munificence; hence merchant-princely a.; merchant rolls = next; merchant-train (see quot. 1881).
1861Fairbairn Iron vi. 109 The bars produced by this second process [of rolling] are called *merchant-bars. 1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron §379 The commercial classification of malleable iron into No. 1, No. 2, best or No. 3 best-best... No. 2 or merchant bars, which is the lowest quality of bar iron available for the general smith's use.
1618in Scott. Hist. Rev. July (1905) 358 Wrangous..away takyng..fra Alexander Duff Johnsone..furth of his *merchand builth in Inverness..off..the guids geir and merchandeice.
1645–52Boate Irel. Nat. Hist. (1860) 111 They had one tun of good Iron, such as is called *Merchants-Iron. 1795Repert. Arts, etc. III. 366 All sorts of merchant iron. 1884W. H. Greenwood Steel & Iron §559 The mill rolls..for rolling merchant iron. 1887Pall Mall G. 5 Sept. 11/2 A contract for a considerable tonnage of what is called ‘merchant iron’.
1540Test. Ebor. (Surtees) VI. 97 Whiche morter haith my *marchaunte marke sett upon it.
1557Bury Wills (Camden) 146 My litle silver pott wt the cover havinge a *marchaunts marke. 1586J. Ferne Blaz. Gentrie i. 238 What do you then say to the coate of Armes of Godfrey of Bulloigne..was that but a Merchants marke in your estimation? 1888Antiquary XVII. 73 Great respect was paid to merchant's marks in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.
1843L. M. Child Lett. from N.Y. viii. 53, I sometimes ask whether the age of Commerce is better than the age of War? Whether our ‘*merchant princes’ are a great advance upon feudal chieftains? 1847L. Hunt Jar Honey Pref. 13 A noble-hearted merchant prince. 1888Burgon Lives 12 Gd. Men II. x. 252 Magdalen Hall..is now (through the munificence of a merchant-Prince) Hertford College. 1961New Eng. Bible Rev. xviii. 23 Your traders were once the merchant princes of the world. 1967N.Y. Times (Internat. ed.) 11–12 Feb. 4/1 Prince Philip, describing himself as a merchant prince working to increase British exports, told 500 businessmen yesterday that no matter where he traveled he was questioned about Britain's financial woes.
1874Trollope Way we live Now (1875) I. x. 59 He..had twice dined..amidst all the magnificence of *merchant-princely hospitality in Grosvenor Square. 1928Daily Express 20 Dec. 6 Even the final figure, the three million dollar trade, is nothing breath-bereaving nor merchant-princely.
1875Knight Dict. Mech., *Merchant-rolls. 1888Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., Mill Rolls, or Merchant Rolls, or Mill Train, the merchant rolls of a rolling mill.
1861Fairbairn Iron vi. 110 Rollers for the puddling, boiler-plate, and *merchant train. 1881Raymond Mining Gloss., Merchant-train, a train of rolls for reducing iron piles or steel ingots, blooms, or billets to bars of any of the various..shapes, known as merchant iron or steel.
B. adj.
In law merchant, statute merchant, guild merchant, the position of the adj. is due to the imitation of med.L. or AF.
1. a. Having relation to merchandise; relating to trade or commerce, esp. in law-merchant, statute-merchant. Phr. † in (or a) merchant fare: on a trading journey.
c1400Beryn 3624 When wee out of Rome in marchant fare went to purchase buttirflyes was our most entent. 1425Rolls of Parlt. IV. 276 His merchant lettre,..wytnessyng the value of the saide merchandise. a1436in Blk. Bk. Admir. (Rolls) II. 27 That he begynne his pleynt..or to the comoune lawe, or to the lawe marchaund, or to the lawe maryn. 1506in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm. App. v. 325 That no foraine..passe not over the see from hensforward a marchant fare except fishers and seefaring men. 1592West 1st Pt. Symbol. §41 A franktenement by Statute is either by vertue of a statute Staple, or of a statute Marchant. 1641Robinson Trades Encrease 4 All marchant and marchant-like Causes and differences. 1663[see law-merchant]. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XI. 399/2 All nations..show a particular regard to the law-merchant. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xii. III. 211 How much money had proprietors borrowed on mortgage, on statute merchant, on statute staple?
†b. merchant good(s (Sc.): marketable commodities (cf. merchant iron in A. 6 b). merchant weight: the weight in use among merchants. Obs.
1544Extracts Aberdeen Reg. (1844) I. 200 Sufficient merchand guid. 1550Reg. Privy Council Scot. I. 85 To sell certane merchant gudis within the burgh. 1704Lond. Gaz. No. 4014/4 Three Pounds Sixteen Shillings per Hundred, Merchant Weight.
2. Of a ship: Serving for the transport of merchandise. Hence, of or pertaining to the mercantile marine, as in merchant service, merchant seaman. (Often written with hyphen.)
1375Barbour Bruce xix. 193 Marchand-schippis that saland war Fra Scotland to Flandriss. 1598Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. iv. Handy-Crafts 23 Lo, how our Merchant-vessels to and fro Freely about our tradefull waters go. 1709Steele Tatler No. 4 ⁋7 A Fleet of Merchant Ships coming from Scotland. 1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1780) s.v. Mate, A frigate of 20 guns, and a small merchant-ship, have only one mate in each. 1851H. Melville Whale xvi, I'll take that leg away from thy stem, if ever thou talkest of the merchant service to me again. 1872Yeats Growth Comm. 279 As soon as England was able to protect her merchant-shipping. 1874Thearle Nav. Arch. 94 A merchant ship is little other than a shell of iron plates stiffened by transverse ribs. 1899F. T. Bullen Way Navy 64 A humble merchant seaman.
3. Of a town: Occupied in commerce, commercial. Also, consisting of merchants, as in guild-merchant, merchant-guild.
1467Yeld marchaunt [see guild 4]. 1596Dalrymple tr. Leslie's Hist. Scot. I. 45 A famous merchand toun, quhais name is Elgin. 1611Bible Isa. xxiii. 11 The Lord hath giuen a commandement against the merchant citie to destroy the strong holdes thereof. 1764Burn Poor Laws 9 All workmen shall bring..to the marchant towns their instruments. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 176 The merchant-league of the Rhineland. 1870L. Brentano in Toulmin Smith Eng. Gilds p. xciii, The formerly-mentioned Gilds of Dover, of the Thanes at Canterbury, as well as perhaps the Gild-Merchant at London. Ibid. xciv, Such also were the Gild-Merchant of York [etc.]. 1874Stubbs Const. Hist. I. xi. 417 The merchant-guild contained all the traders.
▪ II. merchant, v. Now rare.|ˈmɜːtʃənt|
Also 4–5 marchaund(e, 5 marchaunte, 6 marchant, 7 merchand.
[a. OF. marcheander, now marchander, f. marchand merchant n.]
1. intr. To trade as a merchant. Also, † to negotiate; in bad sense, to bargain, haggle.
1377Langl. P. Pl. B. xiii. 394 And if I sent ouer see my seruauntz to Bruges,..To marchaunden with monoye and maken her eschaunges [etc.]. c1430Pilgr. Lyf Man. iii. xxvi. (1869) 150 To begile þilke þat ben symple,..or þat ben nyce to marchaunde. 1481Caxton Godeffroy 115 The turke..wold not suffre them of nothyng, sauf..for to marchaunte to bye and selle. 1525Ld. Berners Froiss. II. cxxix. [cxxv.] 366 The duke of Lancastre and the duches his wyfe had rather marchant with you and with your sonne than with the duke of Berrey. 1614Cornwallis in Gutch Coll. Cur. I. 162, I held it not fit, we should merchant with our Sovereign. 1622Bacon Hen. VII 99 Besides that, Ferdinando..merchanded at this time with France for the restoring of the Counties of Russignon and Perpignian. 1679L. Addison 1st St. Mahumedism 80 He died in the 63 year of his age, after he had Merchanted 38, been two years in the Cave [etc.]. 1866Carlyle Remin., Irving (1881) I. 170 Graham never merchanted more.
2. trans. To trade or deal in; to buy and sell.
1511Act 3 Hen. VIII, c. 8 §1 No Minister in City or Borough, which..ought to keep Assises of Wines and Victuals..should merchant Wines and Victuals. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 2 The said fishermen..do marchant and bie the said french fishe. 1893W. D. Spelman in Voice (N.Y.) 5 Oct., The rare, rich cutlery which he merchanted. |
