peddle

English

Etymology

Back-formation from pedlar. (Compare burgle from burglar.)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈpɛdəl/
Rhymes: -ɛdəl
Homophones: pedal, petal (some dialects)

Verb

peddle (third-person singular simple present peddles, present participle peddling, simple past and past participle peddled)

To sell things, especially door to door or in insignificant quantities.
- 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
  My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
To sell illegal narcotics.
- 1974, Gone in 60 Seconds, 42:19 from the start:
  - How much you think this stuff is worth?
  - Yeah, there must be a million bucks' worth.
  - Think we could peddle it?
  - Oh, you can always get rid of it.
(derogatory, figuratively) To spread or cause to spread.
- 2009, Michael John Beashel, Unshackled (page 166)
  Christine walked a dangerous line, peddling gossip about her detested son-in-law.
- 2012, Niamh O'Connor, Taken (page 166)
  Roberts was a drug dealer, nicknamed 'King Krud', who peddled death and misery.
- 2014 October 21, Oliver Brown, “Oscar Pistorius jailed for five years – sport afforded no protection against his tragic fallibilities: Bladerunner's punishment for killing Reeva Steenkamp is but a frippery when set against the burden that her bereft parents, June and Barry, must carry [print version: No room for sentimentality in this tragedy, 13 September 2014, p. S22]”, in The Daily Telegraph (Sport)‎:
  Yes, there were instances of grandstanding and obsessive behaviour, but many were concealed at the time to help protect an aggressively peddled narrative of [Oscar] Pistorius the paragon, the emblem, the trailblazer.
- 2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:
  As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we have now come to expect) as "critics and naysayers".

Related terms

peddler, pedlar
peddling

Translations

to sell things, especially door to door

Bulgarian: продавам амбулантно (prodavam ambulantno)
Dutch: leuren (nl), aan de deur verkopen
Esperanto: kolporti
Finnish: kaupustella (fi), kaupitella (fi)
French: colporter (fr)
Hungarian: házal (hu)
Portuguese: mascatear
Russian: коммивояжёрствовать impf (kommivojažórstvovatʹ) (colloquial)
Yiddish: פּעדלען‎ (pedlen)

to sell illegal narcotics

Dutch: dealen (nl)
Finnish: diilata (fi) (slang), välittää (fi) (common language)
Portuguese: traficar (pt)
Spanish: traficar (es)

to spread or cause to spread

Dutch: rondbazuinenen, ingang doen vinden
Finnish: levittää (fi)
French: colporter (fr)
German: verbreiten (de)
Polish: rozpowszechniać (pl)
Russian: распространять (ru) impf (rasprostranjatʹ)

References

“peddle”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.