| 释义 |
grocer|ˈgrəʊsə(r)|
Forms: 4–6 grosser, 5–7 groser, 5 grocere, 6 -ier, 5– grocer.
[ad. OF. grossier:—med.L. grossārius, f. grossus gross.]
†1. One who buys and sells in the gross, i.e. in large quantities, a wholesale dealer or merchant; also with mention of the article dealt in, e.g. fish. (The company of Grocers, said to have been incorporated in 1344, consisted of wholesale dealers in spices and foreign produce; hence prob. the later sense 2.) Obs.
[1321Liber Cust. in Munim. Gildh. (Rolls) II. i. 304 Qe ne soient grossours de vin ne taverners. 1363Act 37 Edw. III c. 5 Les Marchauntz nomez grossers engrossent totes maneres des marchandises vendables.] 1427in Heath Grocers' Comp. (1869) 4 In here tyme..was the furste stoon leyd of the Groceres Place in Conyhoope-lane in the Warde of Chepe. 14..Customs of Malton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 63 It is ordanyd þt no groser of fysche awe to cutt hys awn fysche. 1437Bury Wills (Camden) 5 Ego Joħes Notyngham de Bury scī Eđi grocer. 1472J. Paston in P. Lett. No. 701 III. 56 There is a grosser dwellyng ryght over ayenst the well with ij boketts a lytyll fro Seynt Elens, hathe evyr hawkys to sell. 1541Act 33 Hen. VIII c. 25 Thomas Pointes of London Grosser, occupieng the feate of marchandise in the partes beyonde the sea. 1689Ravenhill Acc. Comp. Grocers 1 The word Grocers was a term at first distinguishing Merchants of this Society, in opposition to Inferiour Retailers; for that they usually sold in gross Quantities by great Weights.
2. a. A trader who deals in spices, dried fruits, sugar, and, in general, all articles of domestic consumption except those that are considered the distinctive wares of some other class of tradesmen.
In 18–19th c. tea, coffee, and cocoa became characteristic articles of the grocer's trade. After 1860 many grocers held licences to sell beer, wines, and spirits, in bottles.
1465Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.) 299 He paid to the grocer in Fanchestrete for spycez, x. s. vj. d. c1510Barclay Mirr. Gd. Manners (1570) A ij, What should an Irenmonger meddle with Grocer's ware? 1578Lyte Dodoens v. lxx. 635 A man shal..find it to be sold in the shops of the Apothecaries and Grossers. 1608Pennyless Parl. in Harl. Misc. (Malh.) III. 76 The grocers are plentifully blessed, for their figs and raisins may allure fair lasses. 1725Watts Logic i. vi. §6 (1726) 108 A Grocer is a Man who buys and sells Sugar and Plums and Spices for Gain. 1845James A. Neil ii, A grocer, or rather general dealer. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. xxi. IV. 626 The grocer weighed out his currants.
b. grocers' itch, a form of eczema incident to grocers and others who handle sugar.
1799Underwood Dis. Children (ed. 4) I. 95 An eruption resembling the psora of the Greeks, or what is called amongst us the Grocer's-itch. 1822–29Good's Study Med. V. 635 The local form is mostly produced by the use of irritant materials, constantly applied to the parts affected..as sugar among the labourers in grocery warehouses, and lime among bricklayers. Whence this variety has been vulgarly called Grocers' Itch, or Bricklayers' Itch.
c. grocer's paper = grocery-paper.
1861Rossetti Let. Jan. (1965) II. 392, I shall have it printed..on blue grocer's-paper. 1925E., O. & S. Sitwell Poor Young People 59 And tied in a packet of blue grocer's paper.
d. grocer's Graves, grocer's port, grocer's sherry, grocer's wine, cheap wine bought at a grocer's shop.
1931W. Holtby Poor Caroline i. 21 The cultivation of a palate cannot be achieved on grocer's port. 1936‘N. Blake’ Thou Shell of Death i. 22 His idea of dinner is boiled mutton and grocer's Graves. Ibid. iii. 48 I've..met him..at a dinner at Christ Church..you know the sort of grocer's port they dish out there. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-End xxiii. 399 Ordinary cheap grocer's wine. 1958‘W. Haggard’ Slow Burner iv. 72 Dublin glass..and grocers' sherry at best. 1960J. Morris Hired to Kill iii. xvi. 141 To that it bears about as much resemblance as does a bottle of the finest vintage claret to grocer's wine.
Hence (nonce-wds.) ˈgrocerdom, the realm or world of grocers; ˈgroceress, a female grocer; ˈgrocering, the trade or occupation of a grocer; ˈgrocerly a., of or pertaining to the grocery trade; ˈgrocerwise adv., after the manner of a grocer.
1828[see grazierdom]. 1854Chamb. Jrnl. I. 226 Almost every man above the rank of a mere daily cultivator has a wife who is groceress, linen-draperess, butcheress, or confectioner. 1894Crockett Raiders 52 It was him an' nae ither that pat my Jerry, that was aye a guid lad, past the grocering. a1845Hood T. Trumpet xxxix, For some grocerly thieves Turn over new leaves, Without much amending their lives or their tea. 1898Zangwill Dreamers Ghetto viii. 328 Biographers will weigh me grocer-wise as Kant weighed the Deity. |