Merchant

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: mer=chant

CIDE DICTIONARY

Merchant, n. [OE. marchant, OF. marcheant, F. marchand, fr. LL. mercatans, -antis, p. pr. of mercatare to negotiate, L. mercari to traffic, fr. merx, mercis, wares. See Market, Merit, and cf. Commerce.].

•  One who traffics on a large scale, especially with foreign countries; a trafficker; a trader.  [1913 Webster]

  "Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad."  [1913 Webster]
•  A trading vessel; a merchantman.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  One who keeps a store or shop for the sale of goods; a shopkeeper.  [1913 Webster]

Merchant, a. 

 Of, pertaining to, or employed in, trade or merchandise; as, the merchant service.  [1913 Webster]

Merchant bar, Merchant iron or Merchant steel, certain common sizes of wrought iron and steel bars. -- Merchant service or Merchant marine, the mercantile marine of a country. Am. Cyc. -- Merchant ship, a ship employed in commerce. -- Merchant tailor, a tailor who keeps and sells materials for the garments which he makes.

Merchant, v. i. 

 To be a merchant; to trade.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Merchant, n.
1 a wholesale trader, esp. with foreign countries.
2 esp. US & Sc. a retail trader.
3 colloq. usu. derog. a person showing a partiality for a specified activity or practice (speed merchant).

Idiom

merchant bank esp. Brit. a bank dealing in commercial loans and finance. merchant banker a member of a merchant bank. merchant marine US = merchant navy. merchant navy a nation's commercial shipping. merchant prince a wealthy merchant. merchant ship = MERCHANTMAN.

Etymology

ME f. OF marchand, marchant ult. f. L mercari trade f. merx mercis merchandise

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Merchant

n. One engaged in a commercial pursuit. A commercial pursuit is one in which the thing pursued is a dollar.

THESAURUS

Merchant

agent, baron, broker, business, businessman, caterer, chandler, commercial, commissariat, commissary, dealer, distributor, donor, drummer, forwarder, furnisher, hawker, huckster, importer, industrial, industrialist, jobber, magnate, manciple, marketer, mercantile, merchandiser, merchant prince, middleman, mogul, monger, patron, provider, provisioner, purveyor, quartermaster, regrater, retail, retail dealer, retail merchant, retailer, seller, shopkeeper, steward, stock clerk, storekeeper, supplier, sutler, trade, trader, tradesman, tradeswoman, trading, trafficker, tycoon, vendor, victualer, vivandier, wholesale, wholesaler

ROGET THESAURUS

Merchant

Sale

N sale, vent, disposal, auction, roup, Dutch auction, outcry, vendue, custom, vendibility, vendibleness, seller, vender, vendor, merchant, auctioneer, under the hammer, on the market, for sale, salable, marketable, vendible, unsalable unpurchased, unbought, on one's hands, chose qui plait est a demi vendue.

Merchant

N merchant, trader, dealer, monger, chandler, salesman, changer, regrater, shopkeeper, shopman, tradesman, tradespeople, tradesfolk, retailer, chapman, hawker, huckster, higgler, pedlar, colporteur, cadger, Autolycus, sutler, vivandiere, costerman, costermonger, tallyman, camelot, faker, vintner, money broker, money changer, money lender, cambist, usurer, moneyer, banker, jobber, broker, buyer, seller, bear, bull, concern, firm.