applewoman

plural applewomen

1. historicalA woman who sells apples outdoors.

   She would have blown her nose on her fingers like an applewoman if she wanted to, he thought.

   1937, Virginia Woolf, “‘1914’”, in The Years

   3 more examples

   […] he had formerly quarrelled with Sir Nicholas Rainton when he was Lord Mayor of London, for prohibiting an Apple-woman to sell Apples on the Lords Day within Pauls Church-yard […]

   1646, William Prynne, Canterburies Doome, page 132

   […] we had dragged on near six Weeks of passive Existence without seeing a Soul but that old Apple-woman Sir Anthony, who is as disagreeable as the Place he lives in;

   1778, Gregory Lewis Way, Learning at a Loss, or the Amours of Mr. Pedant and Miss Hartley, page 50

   Burning with impatience to discuss with the great MacGrawler the feasibility of his project, he quickened his pace almost into a run, and in a very few minutes, having only overthrown one chimney-sweeper and two applewomen by the way, he arrived at the sage’s door.

   1830, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, Paul Clifford, page 38