costermongery

1. The fruits and vegetables sold by a costermonger.

   I DEALS in costermongery, But in my callin' makes no noise; For 't ain't amongst the hungry As I cries taturs and savoys.

   1867, Mark Lemon, Henry Mayhew, Tom Taylor, Punch - Volume 53, page 209

   2 more examples

   France, after all, takes the attention first, in spite of the splendid and praiseworthy costermongery of the Crystal Palace.

   1851 October, “Our General Review”, in The American Whig Review, volume 8, page 349

   For my own part I have yet to learn that, in the eyes of Heaven, a grim, infidel, Sabbath and week-day dealer in costermongery is one whit a more pitiable object than a West End, wealthy idler, who fritters away life in club, turf, park, opera, and St. John's Wood—so-called pleasure—without one real, serious though upon a life to come, or one real, serious effort to do good to a single fellow-creature.

   1890, Lord Sidney Godolphin Osborne, Arnold White, The Letters of S.G.O.

2. The business of a costermonger; the process of selling frutis and vegetables from a cart or barrow.

   The occupations of waterside work, costermongery, basketmaking, paper-bag making, of carman and puller-down, fish hawker, and such like, belong to the very humble walks of life.

   1905, Alexander Hay Tod, Charterhouse, page 226

   3 more examples

   So he now rode like all possessed through the wares of fish and costermongery in the Naples market, making everything fly about as in a whirlwind; cackling and curses followed his course, angry fists were clenched at him.

   1894, William Foster Apthorp, Musicians and Music-lovers, and Other Essays, page 144

   In the course of these last few months of active costermongery, of transactions in early peas and new potatoes, spring-cabbage and ripe strawberries, he had acquired not only an insight into commerce but apparently an intimate knowledge of every street in London, and a very fair acquaintance with its celebrities;

   1914, William Frend De Morgan, When Ghost Meets Ghost, page 134

   Costermongery flourished outside in the New Kent Road, and in the immediate vicinity of the barrows a scent of fresh violets blended subtly with that of oysters, a commodity appreciated round the calendar in this district.

   1967, John Marlborough East, 'Neath the mask: the story of the East family, page 214

comparative more costermongery · superlative most costermongery

1. Like a costermonger: especially, rough, poor, or loud.

   Then there is a great deal in cravats, Ella—those miserable little black strings seeming costermongery, when compared with the expansive scarf.

   1878, Truth - Volume 3, page 378

   2 more examples

   They may not be as bold and chivalrous as the shaggy Newfoundland, as lithe and crescenty as that shivering exile the Italian greyhound, as droll and muffy as the Isle of Skye, as sturdy and sagacious as the Spanish pointer, as vivacious and hearty as the smooth terrier, or as dogged a dog as the bulldog, that most costermongery and bloodthirsty of “our four-footed favourites,” as Mr. Woodstock, the popular lecturer, would call it.

   1860, Walter Thornbury, Turkish Life and Character - Volume 1, page 39

   The nurse even grilled one plump and very “costermongery” woman on the mechanics of pawning, revealing an ignorance her interlocutor found most hilarious.

   1993, Ellen Ross, Love and Toil: Motherhood in Outcast London, 1870-1918, →ISBN

   Synonyms: costermongerly, costermongerish