| 释义 |
peddle, v.|ˈpɛd(ə)l|
[Of obscure history: probably I and II are historically distinct words.
Branch I (exemplified 1532 in peddling ppl. a.) was app. a back-formation from pedler, pedlar, taken as peddl-er implying a verb peddle. Branch II (1597–8 in peddling ppl. a.) appears to be an alteration of piddle v. (evidenced from 1545). The two seem subsequently to have acted upon each other, esp. in the derivatives. In both branches a derivative in -ing is known much earlier than the finite verb; cf. the relation of gardening, tailoring, formed on the ns., to the rare finite vbs. to garden, to tailor.]
I.
1. intr. To follow the occupation of a pedlar; to go about carrying small wares for sale.
1532[see peddling ppl. a. 1]. 1591[see peddling vbl. n. 1]. 1650Trapp Comm. Lev. xix. 16 As a pedlar that first fil's his pack with reports and rumors, and then go's pedling up and down. 1651Ogilby æsop (1665) 30 To deal with those [that] bear packs and peddle. 1712Arbuthnot John Bull ii. iv, To go hawking and peddling about the streets, selling knives, scissars, and shoe-buckles. 1791–1823D'Israeli Cur. Lit., The Rump, The most innocent..those whose talents had been limited by Nature to peddle and purloin.
2. trans. To trade or deal in as a pedlar; to carry about and offer for sale. Chiefly U.S.
1837Hawthorne Twice-T. T. (1851) I. xvi. 249 Going to peddle out a lot of huckleberries. 1856Olmsted Slave States 630 Many negroes were in town, peddling eggs, nuts, brooms, and fowls. 1866Whittier Snow-bound 455 To peddle wares from town to town. 1880L. Oliphant Gilead ix. 281 He had peddled sacred relics through Russia.
b. fig. To deal out, or offer for acceptance, in small quantities; to ‘retail’.
1837Emerson Amer. Scholar Wks. (Bohn) II. 175 This original unit..has been so minutely subdivided and peddled out. 1864Bowles in Century Mag. (1889) Sept. 703/2 Going around peddling his griefs in private ears. 1892A. Birrell Res Judic. v. 132 The usual fortune of those who peddle new ideas.
II.
3. intr. To busy oneself with trifles; to work at something in a trifling, paltry, or petty way; to trifle, dally. (Cf. piddle.)
1597–8[see peddling ppl. a. 2]. 1755Johnson, To Peddle, v.n. To be busy about trifles... It is commonly written piddle. 1812Wellington in Gurw. Desp. VIII. 658 The court of Directors must be prevented from meddling with or peddling in the discipline of the Army. 1865Lowell Ode Harvard Commem. ii, No science peddling with the names of things..Can lift our life with wings Far from Death's idle gulf. 1867J. Hatton Tallants of B. xv, It doesn't suit me to be peddling about in the old style of farming. 1877Symonds Renaiss. It. vi. 367 Coteries..peddling with the idlest of all literary problems.
b. trans. with away: To fritter away on trifles.
1880Jefferies Hodge & M. I. 290 The squire's time..was peddled away.
Sense 2 b in Dict. becomes 2 c. Add: [2.] b. With illicit merchandise, esp. drugs, as obj. Also absol. Cf. pedlar n. 1 d. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1938Amer. Speech XIII. 190/1 To push, to peddle narcotics, especially as a sub-agent or small-time dealer. 1960‘E. McBain’ Heckler (1962) v. 44 The alleged pushers who were peddling their lovely little packets of junk... Junk is dope. 1978‘W. Haggard’ Poison People iii. 90 They weren't pushers but higher up the line, the runners to the men that peddled. 1988Independent 16 Sept. 7/1 You need no reminding of the evils which the trade..brings on those to whom you peddle drugs. |