| 释义 |
▪ I. huckster, n.|ˈhʌkstə(r)|
Forms: 3 Orm. huccster, 4–5 hukstar, 4– huckster; also 4–5 hok(e)ster(e, hoxter, 5 howkster, hukstere, hukkester, huk-, hwkstare, (hoggester), 5–6 hook-, hukster, 5–7 hucster, 5–9 huxter, 6 hocster, houkester, huckester, huckstar, 9 dial. huikster.
[See huck v. Although the series huck, hucker, huckster, corresponds formally with bake, baker, baxter, brew, brewer, brewster, etc., in which the verb is the starting-point, the late date of huck as compared with huckster, and the continental parallels of the latter, make difficulties. MDu. had hokester, hoekster, early mod.Du. heukster, ‘huckster’ fem.; also MDu. hoeker, early mod.Du. heuker masc. = MLG. hoker, mod.Ger. höker, ‘higgler, hawker, retailer, market-man, costermonger’; none of these, however, appear to be known as early as our huckster.
The origin of the Du. and Ger. words themselves is unsettled; Ger., besides höker, has höke, höcke, MHG. hucke, MLG. hoke, to be referred, according to Kluge, prob. to hocken to squat, sit on the ‘hunkers’; but Verwijs and Verdam state grounds for connecting MDu. hoeker, hoekster rather with Du. hoek a corner. The history is thus altogether obscure.]
1. A retailer of small goods, in a petty shop or booth, or at a stall; a pedlar, a hawker.
a. Applied to a woman.
a1300Sat. People Kildare xviii. in E.E.P. (1862) 155 Hail be ȝe hokesters dun bi þe lake..He is sori of his lif Þat is fast to such a wif. 14..Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 692/42 Hec auxiatrix, a huxter. c1475Pict. Voc. Ibid. 793/29 Hec aucionatrix, a hoxter. 1851Mayne Reid Scalp Hunt. ix. 70 The women, light-hearted hucksters.
b. Without distinction of sex. (The ordinary use.) locally in specific senses: see quots. 1858–77.
c1200Ormin 15817 Forr þatt teȝȝ turrndenn Godess hus Inntill huccsteress boþe. 1387Trevisa Higden i. lx. (Rolls) II. 171 Þey beeþ..in gaderyne of catel hoksters [v.r. hucksters] and tauerners. c1440Promp. Parv. 252/2 Hwkstare,..auxionator, auxionatrix. 1483Gild Bakers Exeter in Eng. Gilds 337 To make serche..att all hoggesters houses with-yn the Juris-diccion of the said Cite. 1534More Treat. on Passion Wks. 1304/1 A substanciall merchaunt and not an hukster. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Regatonear, to sell pedlerie ware, to play the hucster. 1641Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 29 Wee buy our molten tallowe..of the hucksters and tripe-wives. 1705Hickeringill Priest-cr. ii. vi. 62 The throwing down of a Hucksters Apples by a Fisher-Boy. 1858Simmonds Dict. Trade, Huckster, an inferior dealer or minor trader; a hawker or itinerant vendor of goods with a pack, box, or tray. 1877Holderness Gloss., Hucksthers, dealers in farm produce, who attend the markets to purchase from the producers for the purpose of retailing it out again to small customers. 1889Spectator 28 Dec., From the great shops in Regent Street and Bond Street to the smallest huxters' in the slums, there are Christmas presents in the windows.
c. As term of reproach: A regrater, an engrosser of corn, etc.; a broker, a middleman.[a1400Burgh Laws lxvi. in Sc. Stat. I. 346/1 Hukstaris þat byis and sellis agane to wynning sal nocht by ony thing before þat undern be rungyn in wynter and mydmorne in somer.] 1573–80Baret Alv. H 707 An Huckster: a regrater: a seller by retaile: a wifler, propola. 1580Hollyband Treas. Fr. Tong, Dardanier, an huckester, he that kepeth corne till it be deare. 1595Duncan App. Etymol. (E.D.S.), Mango, interpolator, a hukster, a regrator. 1612T. Taylor Comm. Titus i. 11 Such as by fraud and base arts play the hucksters to enhanse the price. 1630S. Lennard tr. Charron's Wisd. (1658) 49 It is the great Intermedler and Huckster, by which we traffick. 1700T. Brown tr. Fresny's Amusem. Ser. & Com. 78 Marriage Hucksters, or Wife-Brokers.
2. a. trans. and fig. A person ready to make his profit of anything in a mean or petty way; one who basely barters his services, etc., for gain; a mercenary; an overreacher of others.
1553N. Grimalde Cicero's Offices i. (1558) 18 No hucsters of warre warremen as we bee. 1645Milton Colast. Wks. (1851) 350 Wee have it..as good cheap, as any hucster at law, newly set up, can possibly afford. 1673Vain Insolency Rome 5 With what craft, and artifice, the Romish Hucksters endeavour to seduce the people of our Church of England..to the Communion of Rome. 1842Rogers Introd. Burke's Wks. (1842) I. 9 Mr. Hamilton, who managed the whole matter in the true spirit of a political huckster, had the meanness to accept this offer. 1868M. E. Braddon Charlotte's Inher. i. i. 7, I am no huckster, to sell my daughter to the best bidder.
b. An advertising agent chiefly concerned with the preparation of advertising programmes for radio broadcasting.
1946F. Wakeman (title) The hucksters. 1947Britannica Bk. of Year 840/2 Huckster, a radio advertising man. 1965English Studies XLVI. 464 Huckster, broker... Also used colloquially of an advertisement copy writer.
†3. Phrase. in huckster's hands (handling): in a position in which it is likely to be roughly used or lost; beyond the likelihood of recovery. Obs.
1581Rich Farewell D iv b, We will returne to his wife, who was lefte in hucsters handelyng (as you haue heard). a1592Greene Alphonsus i. Wks. (Rtldg.) 226/2 The crown is lost, and now in hucksters' hands. 1687R. L'Estrange Answ. Diss. 21 They are gotten into Hucksters Hands, and there's No coming off without a Scratch'd Face. a1700B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew s.v., In Huckster's Hands, at a desperate Pass, or Condition, or in a fair way to be lost. 1738Swift Pol. Conversat. 68 Madam, he shall ne'er have it [a Handkerchief] again; 'tis in Huckster's Hands.
4. Comb., as huckster-booth; huckster-like adj., adv.
1591Spenser M. Hubberd 925 The Ape wanting his huckster man, That wont provide his necessaries. 1665Glanvill Scepsis Sci. Pref. (R.), Nor will I huckster-like discredit any man's ware, to recommend mine own. 1866Blackie Homer & Iliad I. 101 The huckster-booths of the Lawnmarket. 1870Standard 13 Dec., He only mulcted nations, and did not hucksterlike fine every little open town he came across.
Hence hucksterdom, nonce-wd. [see -dom]; ˈhucksterism, the theory or practice of being a huckster (usu. disparaging).
1886Pall Mall Budget 8 July 28/2 From the hucksterdom of his environment. 1951Newsweek 27 Aug. 80 Robert Saudek, a three-time Peabody Award winner for documentaries. Saudek, a soft-spoken man without a hint of hucksterism. 1957N.Y. Times 6 Jan. E 11/4 An attack on Southern schools of journalism for ‘kicking the humanities around’ while emphasizing ‘hucksterism’ and ‘quick turnover’ in education. 1960Encounter XV. 27 One can find ‘hucksterism’..among academic people in search of reputations. 1972Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 26/2 What particularly appeals to me about the ‘Jack La Lanne Show’ is its serious, heart⁓felt hucksterism. 1973Observer 2 Dec. 7/3 This high-pressure hucksterism, backed by the multi-billion investment.., has failed to impress many scientists.
▪ II. ˈhuckster, v.
[f. huckster n.]
1. intr. To bargain, haggle. lit. and fig.
1592[see huckstering ppl. a.]. a1665J. Goodwin Filled w. the Spirit (1867) 319 Be ingenuous and noble towards God, and not stand picking and huckstering with your hearts to know how you must do to escape hell fire. 1775Burke Sp. Conc. Amer. Wks. III. 57 Despotism itself is obliged to truck and huckster. 1855Motley Dutch Rep. iv. i. II. 522 The estates..irritated the Prince of Orange by huckstering about subsidies. 1861Sala Dutch Pict. xxi. 336 A dunghill of vanity for chapmen to huckster over.
2. trans. To traffic in, in a petty way; to retail or expose for sale (esp. in small quantities); to bargain over. Also, to adulterate. lit. and fig.
1642T. Hill Trade of Truth 37 This graduall Huckstering up the purity of truth. 1670Milton Hist. Eng. iii. Wks. (1847) 502/2 Some who had been called from shops and ware⁓houses..to sit in supreme councils and committees..fell to huckster the commonwealth. 1677Gale Crt. Gentiles iii. 19 Such as hucstered and made merchandise of Christ. 1770Burke Pres. Discont. Wks. 1842 I. 129 The sealed fountain of royal bounty, which had been infamously monopolized and huckstered. 1879Farrar St. Paul (1883) 541 The deceitful workers who had huckstered and adulterated the word of God. 1898Humanitarian XI. 357 A man..huckstering cheap lollypops to the small fry of the Board Schools. |