| 释义 |
ˈshopkeeper
[f. shop n. + keeper n.]
1. One who carries on business in a shop.
1530Palsgr. 267/1 Schoppe kepar. 1626B. Jonson Staple of News i. iii. 44, I say 'tis nobly done, to cherish Shop⁓keepers, And pay their Bills, without examining thus. 1768Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 142 A shopkeeper will never thrive who despises small profits. 1817J. Scott Paris Revis. 3 An elderly London shop-keeper.
b. a nation of shop-keepers: applied disparagingly to a nation whose chief interest and concern lies in commerce (now often, to England).
Cf. quots. 1766, 1769 s.v. shopkeeping a.
1776Adam Smith W.N. iv. vii. (1828) III. 41 To found a great empire for the sole purpose of raising up a people of customers, may at first sight appear a project fit only for a nation of shopkeepers.
c. attrib.
1776Adam Smith W.N. iv. vii. (1828) III. 43 A clause in the famous act of navigation established this truly shopkeeper proposal into a law.
2. slang. An article that has remained long in the shop unsold.
1649G. Daniel Trinarch., Hen. V, cccviii, Blunt Reason, as an vseless Toole they give; Old Shopkeeper, with rusted Conscience! 1764Low Life 76 Petty Booksellers..looking out their imperfect and antient Shopkeepers, that they may expose them to Sale.
Hence ˈshopkeeperess nonce-wd., a female shopkeeper. ˈshopkeeperish a., having the nature of a shopkeeper. ˈshopkeeperism, the characteristics of shopkeepers as a class. ˈshopkeepery, the body of shopkeepers.
1828Miss Mitford Village III. 55 The whole farmerage and shopkeepery of the place. 1843Carlyle Jrnl. in Froude Life Lond. (1884) I. 331 The boundless element of twaddle, dilettantism, shopkeeperism. 1858Chamb. Jrnl. X. 261 No tight, prim, pale, eager shopkeeperesses. 1858Clough Poems, etc. (1869) I. 120 Extremely shopkeeperish and merchantish. |