chapman
(ˈtʃæpmən)
Forms: α. 1 céap-, cepe-, cyp-, cypemann, 2–3 chepmon, 3 cæpmon, 3–4 chepman; β. 3 chapmon, 3– chapman, (Orm. chappmann, 6 shapman).
[OE. céapmann = OHG. choufman, (OHG., MHG. koufman), Ger. kaufmann, MDu., Du. koopman, WGer. type *kaupmann; f. kaup, OHG. chouph, OS. côp, OE. céap barter, business, dealing + mann man. OE. had also the by-forms c{yacu}p-, c{yacu}pe-, cépemann founded on the vb. c{iacu}ępan, c{yacu}pan, c{iacu}pan to sell (:—WGer. *kaupjan); see cheap v. The normal ME. repr. of OE. céapmann was chepman (with vowel shortened by position); but sometimes, in OE. ea, eo, e blended with a preceding palatal, leaving a or o as the vowel, hence the surviving form chapman.]
1. A man whose business is buying and selling; a merchant, trader, dealer. Obs. or arch.
| α c 890 K. ælfred Bæda ii. i. (Bosw.) Cypemen moniᵹ cepeþing to ceapstowe brohte. a 1000 Law Ine §25 in Thorpe Laws I. 118 (Bosw.) Ȝif ceapman uppe on folce ceapie, do þæt beforan ᵹewitnessum. c 1205 Lay. 13313 Her beoð chæpmen [c 1275 chepmen] icumen. Ibid. 30681 Swulc he weore a chepmon. a 1300 Cursor M. 4186 Selle we him to ȝone chepmen. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 285 Þanne schipmen [v.r. chepmen] wolde have i-bouȝt his bisshopriche. a 1400 Usages Winchester in Eng. Gilds 357 Gadere þat ryȝte of chepmen. |
| β c 1200 Ormin 15783 Ut off Godes temmple he draf chappmenn. a 1300 Cursor M. 4239 Þir chapmen þat haue ioseph boght. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 247. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 69 Chapman, negociator, mercator. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 131 So should few honest chapmen be brought to decaie. 1642 Rogers Naaman 247 It is not a meete thing that man should be both chapman and customer. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. 476 The calling of a chapman, who is one that buys and sells any thing. 1859 Times 16 Apr. 9/4 Mr. Cobden..has made for us the best bargain..ever made by chapman. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 278 Sometimes too would the foreign chapmen come, And beach their dromond in the sandy bay. |
| fig. 1529 Frith Antith. (1829) 301 The Pope and bishops suffer chapmen in the church, that minister the sacraments for money daily unto the common people. |
† b. pl. People engaged in buying and selling; market people.
Obs.| a 1225 Juliana 52 Heo leac him efter hire endelong þe cheping chepmenne huting [v.r. chapmen to huting]. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 262 The chapmen of such mercerie..So many shulden beie and selle. |
† c. petty chapman: A retail dealer;
esp. = 2.
| 1553 Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI, c. 21 No Tinker, Pedler, or petit Chapman shall wander about from the Towne..but such as shall be licenced by two Justices of Peace. 1605 Camden Rem. 182 A King to buy and sell the bodies of men, as it were a petie-chapman. 1639 Horn & Robotham Gate Lang. Unl. xlv. §491 Petty chapmen buy up commodities of those that sell by whole sale; and sell them off dearer by retaile, and parcell them out. 1745 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. I. Introd. 1 Such as carry goods from market to market, or from house to house, to sell, we usually call petty chapmen. 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. vi. 196 Before he was twenty he followed the army as a petty chapman. |
2. An itinerant dealer who travels about from place to place selling or buying; one who keeps booths at markets, etc.; a hawker, pedlar.
| 1592 H. Chettle Kind-Harts Dr. (1841) 17 Chapmen, able to spred more pamphlets..then all the bookesellers in London. 1627 Donne Serm. clvii. Wks. 1839 VI. 262 Let..Travellers [look] after fair-days, and Chapmen after market-days. 1745 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. II. xxxii. 58 The country chapman to whom the tradesman sends his goods. 1790 Burns Tam o' Shanter 1 When chapman billies leave the street. 1806 Gazetteer Scotl. 429 A general meeting of the travelling chapmen or pedlars of the three Lothians. 1831 Dyce Life of Greene Wks. I. Introd. 47 Sold on ballad-mongers' stalls and hawked about the country by chapmen. |
† 3. An agent in a commercial transaction; a negotiator, broker.
Obs.| 1570 Levins Manip. 20 A chapman, institor. 1654 C. Lyttleton in Hatton Corr. (1878) 12 If she please I should find her a chapman..that may lay out her mony to y⊇ best advantage. 1659 Hammond On Ps. lv. 22 annot. 285 A Syrian merchant..bidding his chapman weigh out his parcel. |
† 4. A purchaser; a customer.
Obs. or
dial.| a 1225 Ancr. R. 418 Ancre þet is cheapild, heo cheapeð hire soule þe chepmon of helle. 1393 Gower Conf. II. 298 He is gone To seche..His stone to selle and so he dede And lefte it with his chapman there. 1539 Will of T. Everard (Somerset Ho.) Yf none of my children will bye it I will my executours shall take ther beste chapman. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World ii. 391. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. (1843) 810/1 His majesty therefore writ to prince Rupert..he should find some good chapmen to buy the ships. 1688 Lond. Gaz. No. 2380/4 The Real Estate of the said Bankrupt will be sold to the best Chapman. 1745 Swift Direct. Servants Wks. 1745 VIII. 8 Your father sent a cow to you to sell, and you could not find a chapman till nine at night. 1807 Southey Espriella's Lett. (1814) III. 152 When they meet with a likely chapman, they produce other [prints] of the most obscene and mischievous kind. |
5. dial. (See
quot.)
| 1863 Atkinson Yorksh. Gloss. N. Riding, Chapman, a distinctive name applied to horses of the Cleveland breed. |