huckster

[huhk-ster] /ˈhʌk stər/
noun
1.
a retailer of small articles, especially a peddler of fruits and vegetables; hawker.
2.
a person who employs showy methods to effect a sale, win votes, etc.:
the crass methods of political hucksters.
3.
a cheaply mercenary person.
4.
Informal.
  1. a persuasive and aggressive salesperson.
  2. a person who works in the advertising industry, especially one who prepares aggressive advertising for radio and television.
verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
5.
to deal, as in small articles, or to make petty bargains:
to huckster fresh corn; to huckster for a living.
6.
to sell or promote in an aggressive and flashy manner.
Origin
1150-1200; Middle English huccstere (perhaps cognate with Middle Dutch hokester), equivalent to hucc- haggle (cognate with dialectal German hucken to huckster) + -stere -ster
Related forms
hucksterism, noun
hucksterish, adjective
Examples from the web for huckster
  • There is nothing so unsufferable to me as an old huckster's shop of property.
  • Those ignorant people are busy listening to some other huckster peddling financial snake oil.
  • The reason may be that he is a psychologist rather than a huckster.
  • But as a rogue, huckster and progressive, he is extraordinary.
  • The wheel of the huckster's wagon was taken oft and the contents were spilled to the road.
British Dictionary definitions for huckster

huckster

/ˈhʌkstə/
noun
1.
a person who uses aggressive or questionable methods of selling
2.
(rare) a person who sells small articles or fruit in the street
3.
(US) a person who writes for radio or television advertisements
verb
4.
(transitive) to peddle
5.
(transitive) to sell or advertise aggressively or questionably
6.
to haggle (over)
Derived Forms
hucksterism, noun
Word Origin
C12: perhaps from Middle Dutch hoekster, from hoeken to carry on the back
Word Origin and History for huckster
n.

c.1200, "petty merchant, peddler" (often contemptuous), from Middle Dutch hokester "peddler," from hoken "to peddle" (see hawk (v.1)) + agent suffix -ster (which was typically feminine in English, but not in Low German). Specific sense of "advertising salesman" is from 1946 novel by Frederick Wakeman. As a verb, from 1590s. Related: Huckstered; huckstering.

Slang definitions & phrases for huckster

huckster

noun

An advertising person or publicity agent: so the television hucksters can peddle their shaving cream

[1945+; popularized by the 1946 novel about advertising, The Hucksters, by Frederick Wake-man]