free-tradern.
/ˌfriːˈtreɪdə/, U.S. /ˌfriˈtreɪdər/ 1.
a. A person who conducts trade independently of the restrictions or benefits of protective regulations.In quot. 1739: a tradesman who does not enjoy the protection of special privileges within the City of London.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > [noun] > unrestricted
free-trader1645
1645 Disc. Enlargement Trade 25 If free Traders were confind to two Towns only..there is no such feare of a glut.
1666 N. Hodges Vindiciæ Medicinæ & Medicorum (new ed.) ii. 54 If these [sc. apothecaries] because of their settlement as free Traders, shall hereupon destroy the relation between Physicians and them, as if their interest did not much consist in the practise of Physicians, they will have no cause of complaint.
1739 Proc. Court of Hustings Liverymen of London 30 Those who have served no Apprenticeships, and who undersell the Free Trader.
1851 H. Mayhew London Labour I. 375/1 The pedlar..was, as it were, the first ‘free-trader’; increasing the facilities for the interchange of commodities, without regard to market dues or tolls.
2001 A. E. Kingsolver Nafta Stories iii. 111 The right to participate fully in free-market capitalism as a free-trader of goods or services.
b. spec. A trader who works independently of a company (as the East India Company, the Hudson Bay Company, etc.). Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > trader > [noun] > not in service of a company
private trader1616
free-trader1698
1698 J. Fryer New Acct. E.-India & Persia 86 Lest the New Company should be exclaimed against as too greedy Monopolizers, they permit Free Traders on their Island Bombaim.
1775 C. Caraccioli Life Ld. Clive I. 503 The inconveniences and impositions to which the European free traders were exposed, for want of this order.
1813 Times 10 Apr. 2/2 Suppose they found no sufficient vent for their goods at Calcutta, and found the demand for them such as to induce them to demand to go further up the country, as a matter essential to their interests as free traders?
1837 W. Irving Capt. Bonneville (1895) I. 66 Waylaying and dogging the caravans of the free traders, and murdering the solitary trapper.
1846 R. B. Sage Scenes Rocky Mts. xx. 165 We..halted with a camp of free traders and hunters.
1902 S. E. White Conjuror's House iv. 39 Brooding on his imprisonment the Free Trader forgot his surroundings.
1945 R. W. Service Ploughman of Moon 429 McTosh is a free trader..and hates the Company.
1961 J. A. Verleun tr. J. Hartog Aruba Past & Present iii. 59 Free traders were allowed to settle on Aruba.
1971 Alberta Hist. Rev. Winter 1/1 David McDougall, who was a free trader, had come to Winnipeg to purchase supplies for his store at Morley.
1995 S. Marty Leaning on Wind iv. 48 The Montana free traders were convinced that the evil HBC..had armed the Blackfoot and sent them to plunder horses and pelts in Montana Territory.
2. A ship trading under licence to India independently of the old East India Company's Charter. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [noun] > trading to or from specific place > under licence to India
free-trader1746
1746 New Gen. Coll. Voy. & Trav. III. iii. iv. 200/1 The Don Carlos of London, a Ten per Cent. Ship, or Free-Trader.
1786 Daily Universal Reg. 26 June 2/1 There is a captain of a free trader in India, now in town.
1828 C. D'Oyly Tom Raw, Griffin 34 ‘Came you with these lancers, These silvered, gilded, scarlet cossacked prancers?’ ‘No, sir, I came in the free trader Nancy.’
1840 Gentleman's Mag. Apr. 432/2 Lieut. Proby spent part of the ensuing six years in a free-trader to India.
1967 V. Stuart Beloved Little Admiral ii. 48 Harry..returned to England as a passenger in a free-trader, the Claudine, via the Cape.
2007 Lloyd's List (Nexis) 13 Apr. 6 Mackenzie's frustration ended on July 31, 1704, when the Worcester anchored in Leith Road. Like the Annandale it too was a free trader, inwards from India.
3. A smuggler; (also) a smuggling vessel. Now historical.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > trading vessel > [noun] > smuggling
runner1719
smuggler1799
free-trader1815
guinea-boat1867
smug-boat1867
society > travel > travel by water > one who travels by water or sea > sailor > types of sailor > [noun] > sailor of smuggling vessel
free-trader1815
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. v. 72 There go the free-traders—there goes Captain Dirk Hatteraick... That fellow..is the terror of all the excise and custom-house cruisers.
1824 W. Scott Redgauntlet III. i. 19 As if..a free-trader could sail the Solway as securely as a King's cutter!
1893 R. L. Stevenson Catriona xiii These, perhaps taking us to be free-traders, fled on our approach.
1908 S. J. Weyman Wild Geese viii. 106 'Tis only what comes from France and Spain by the free-traders that we'll be hearing.
1958 Econ. Hist. Rev. 10 395 For a large part of the eighteenth century, tea was one of the staple goods of the ‘free trader’.
1968 Amer. Hist. Rev. 74 70 Twining..observed that the failure to compete with smuggled tea forced more and more shopkeepers to deal with the free trader secretly, while condemning him publicly.
4. An advocate of free trade.
ΘΚΠ
society > trade and finance > importing and exporting > [noun] > free trade > advocate of
free-tradist1828
free-trader1831
1831 Times 23 Feb. 5/6 The bullionist promotes reform, because he thinks it will secure him against a return of the one-pound notes,—or the free trader, because it will extinguish monopoly.
1849 R. Cobden Speeches 34 If..there be free-traders who think that free-trade is only an experiment.
1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 386/2 The representative of a commercial constituency, he is naturally a fierce free-trader.
1916 Polit. Sci. Q. 31 126 He is a British imperialist, and withal a free-trader, who believes heart and soul in the omnipotently civilizing mission of his country.
1941 F. A. Haight Hist. French Commerc. Policies ii. 26 Whereas Ricardo was a more uncompromising free trader than Smith, Mill was inclined to show more sympathy with protectionist arguments.
1970 P. Berton National Dream vii. i. 264 Industry after industry was forced to the wall and still Mackenzie, the traditional free trader, made no move towards protection.
2007 Jakarta Post (Nexis) 23 Mar. If Doha collapses, there will be bitter times ahead for free-traders the world over.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2008; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1645- to give a person the verbals
- to give a person the wall
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