Meaning & use
Chapmen
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Archaic term for traveling peddlers or merchants who sold goods door to door or at markets, especially in medieval and early modern England.
See it in a sentence
Chapmen once traveled from village to village selling ballads, ribbons, and household goods.
Historical records mention local chapmen supplying rural households with pins, thread, and small trinkets.
A note on using this word
The singular 'chapman' survives today in the surname Chapman and in 'chapbook,' a cheap pamphlet historically sold by these traveling merchants.
Words with a similar meaning
peddlershawkerstraders
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