merchant:
(plural: ‘merchants‘)
a cloth merchant with his wares
a business person who buys goods (things made or sold) in large quantities (wholesale) and sells them to retailers (small shops) for profit, especially on international markets;
a trader;
(in US and Canada) a shopkeeper,
Most vineyard farmers in Italy are also fine wine merchants.
The secret behind her wearing a new dress each day is that her husband is a cloth merchant!
The local merchants of this small town are protesting against opening a supermarket as they fear it will ruin their small businesses.
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a person dealing or involved in something that is not good or useful, not necessarily buying and selling of goods,
a couple of gossip merchants
Wilson is a dirt merchant, a tabloid newspaper reporter who is always on the lookout for some gossip or private matters of any celebrities.
Our neighbourhood is full of all sorts of merchants — gossip merchants, scandal-mongering merchants, warmongering merchants, etc. (i.e. the residents in our neighbourhood are involved in bad activities of spreading gossip and rumours about others, talking bad about others, expecting or encouraging fights within groups, etc.)
Note 2: ‘Merchant’, always with a capital ‘M’, is often found in the names of people, e.g. Vivian Merchant, Martha Merchant, Natalie Merchant, etc. For an article that explains the origin of this word as a surname/family name/last name, please click here.
