mongerer

English

Etymology

From monger +‎ -er.

Noun

mongerer (plural mongerers)

1. (proscribed) Alternative form of monger.
   1. One who sells a particular commodity.
      • 1893, Marcus Clarke, Chidiock Tichbourne Or The Catholic Conspiracy‎^[1], page 44:

        Come old mutton mongerer, despatch! despatch!

      • 2011 December 21, Pluffmud (username), “Mock lobster”, in Allrecipes.com‎^[2], archived from the original on 16 June 2019:

        Monkfish, the poor man's lobster, according to my fish mongerer, tasted very similar to lobster almost better in my eyes.

   2. One who promotes something undesirable.
      • 1894, A.G. Boone, “General Culture as an Element in Professional Training”, in Joint Documents of the State of Michigan‎^[3], volume 3, page 43:

        What is wanted primarily, shall I say, in the teacher, is that he be a man or that she be a woman, not a method mongerer. […] By method is meant the law of the mind’s movement. This is a narrower field than that of psychology and even more fruitful of suggestion to the teacher.

      • 1918, George Franklin Wisner, The Wisners in America and Their Kindred, page 211:

        He was also an orator of no mean ability. He was not a phrase mongerer, but a man of ideas, and capable of presenting them in a clear and concise manner.

      • 2002, Jonathan Goldstein, Max Wallace, Schmelvis: In Search of Elvis Presley’s Jewish Roots, →ISBN, page 82:

        Are you entertaining whores with my gelt? Is my nephew a mongerer of whores?

Related terms

• fearmongerer
• phrasemongerer
• scaremongerer
• warmongerer

References

• Paul Brians (2009) “warmongerer”, in Common Errors in English Usage, 2nd edition, Wilsonville, Or.: William, James & Company, →ISBN: “‘Monger’ is a very old word for ‘dealer.’ […] For some reason lots of people tack an unneeded extra ‘-er’ onto the end of this word. Why would you say ‘mongerer’ when you don’t say ‘dealerer’?”