Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a man, a fellow, esp. as an adept of a particular interest, use is usu. in a variety of qualifying combs., e.g. blag-merchant under blag n.; bull merchant under bull n.⁶ ; caper merchant under caper n.² ; fanny merchant under fanny n.² ; feather merchant under feather n.; hoist-merchant under hoist n.; hop merchant under hop n.¹ ; jump-up merchant under jump-up n.; lay-down merchant n.; lush merchant under lush n.¹ ; mutton merchant under mutton n.; reader merchant under reader n.; timber-merchant under timber n.; tootle-merchant under tootle n.; wood merchant under wood n.¹ .

1549		W. Latimer Sermon before Edward VI (Arb.) n.p.: The crafty merchant (what-ever he be) that will set brother against brother, meaneth to destroy them both [N].
1568		Hist. of Jacob and Esau V vi: What ye saucie merchaunt, are ye a prater now?
1573		New Custom I i: I woulde so haue scourged my marchant, that his breeche should ake.
1582		Stanyhurst Of Virgil his Æneis II: A brasse bold merchaunt in causes dangerus hardye.
1595		Shakespeare Romeo and Juliet II iv: I pray you, sir, what saucy merchant was this that was so full of his ropery?
1612		N. Field Woman is a Weathercock III iii: The merchant is dead for shame.
c.1629		R. Brome City Wit III ii: We hop’d he would have prov’d a crafty Merchant, and he prov’d an honest man, a Beggar.
1633		Rowley Match at Midnight V i: I knew you were a crafty Merchant, you helped my Master to such bargaines vpon the Exchange last night.
1662		‘M.W.’ Marriage Broaker II i: We are call’d Merchants of the Maidenhead.
1772		Bridges Burlesque Homer (3rd edn) 375: [footnote] This Grimstone is a preaching shoemaker, and as fine a fellow as either of the other two brimstone merchants.
1822		R. Nares Gloss. (1888) II 564: merchant, s. Familiarly used, as we now say a chap (with much the same meaning, being only a contraction of chapman), a saucy chap, or the like.
1837		Disraeli Venetia I 152: ‘We’ll make a Turkey merchant* of you yet,’ said an old gipsy. (*i.e. We will teach you to steal a turkey).
1908		Gem 17 Oct. 13: I rather like Railton [...] Seems a decent sort of merchant.
1915		Wodehouse Psmith Journalist (1993) 196: I will interview these merchants.
1922		S. Lewis Babbitt (1974) 148: He’s not dumb, like the old-fashioned merchant.
1926		E. Wallace Joker (1950) 44: I’ve just got a feeling that you might. I’m a hunch merchant [...] premonitions are my long suit.
1927		Bulletin (Sydney) 11 Aug. n.p.: Runners were flitting hither and thither [...] conveying the latest market quotations to their clients, the bookmakers. ‘Double’ merchants were legion.
1930		N. Gale ‘The Favourite’ in Messrs Bat and Ball 38: You and I, / As snowbound fancy often chooses, / Upon our hearthrug will defy / The Leg-Break Merchant and his ruses.
1936		K. Mackenzie Living Rough 151: I left the land of [...] high-powered salesmen, hot-air merchants.
1942		Baker in Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 12 July 6/5: Vivid War Slang [...] Buzz merchant: A rumour spread, furphy king.
1943		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 3 Apr. 13: Shavers, the half-pint swing merchant of the John Kirby band.
1947		N. Algren Neon Wilderness (1986) 34: Old rogues and wagon grifters, shakedown artists and coneroos, heel thieves and strong-arm merchants, [...] cat burglars from Brooklyn and live wires from nowhere.
1958		F. Norman in Sun. Graphic 20 July in Norman’s London (1969) 18: The teenagers and skiffle merchants.
1958		A. Delmayne Sahara Desert Escape 201: I saw a pair of black boots and leggings [...] Black boots and black leather leggings are worn only by the Gardes Mobiles, and this merchant was much too near for my liking .
1965		H. Rhodes Chosen Few (1966) 34: I guess that was jus’ too much for a shit merchant like him.
1965		L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 86: I was a big-chat merchant, I could talk to anybody.
1975		A. Bleasdale Scully 174: Y’all shitbags an’ cack merchants.
1975		‘P.B. Yuill’ Hazell and the Three-card Trick (1977) 39: How did you know they were boardsmen — three-card trick merchants?
1980		J. McClure Spike Island (1981) 356: Well, what have you got in the middle? one asks. The violence merchants.
1983		A. Payne ‘Senior Citizen Caine’ in Minder [TV script] 28: You eyeball that doctor they come up with? Right strait-jacket merchant, if ever I saw one.
1989		R.G. Barrett Boys from Binjiwunyawunya 104: Even a drainpipe merchant could unsuspectingly climb up over the balcony intent on robbing the joint.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 108: Fastbuck merchants from the City, publishers, the odd egghead sewer rat.
1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 18: An ex-skag merchant always knows when someone is sick.
1995		J. Cameron Vinnie Got Blown Away 61: I thought on other powder merchants.
1998		K. Sampson Awaydays 16: There’s only about five or six regular Stanley [knife] merchants in The Pack.
2000		N. Barlay Crumple Zone 139: Guy’s a one-punch merchant.
2000		Indep. Rev. 27 Jan. 7: Such doom merchants [...] forget the The Archers’ story lines, 20 or 30 years ago, used to be considerably fruitier, darker and more violent.
2000		N. Griffiths Grits 462: Barstard fuckin crusty rip-off merchant wankas.
2007		N. ‘Razor’ Smith Raiders 56: The action merchants [...] got tooled up.
2009		R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 70: To be a professional Dole Merchant, you’ve got to have good qualifacations in Excuse Making.
2012		W. Keyser ‘Carny Lingo’ in http://goodmagic.com 🌐 Heat Merchant — A carny whose personality and actions arouse so many complaints from the patrons that local authorities harass the entire carnival.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 83: He walked past one of the patter merchants doing his routine [...] holding a fanned-out tea set in his left arm, in the right a broomstick.
2021		Betoota-isms 148: [T]he back-page outrage merchants.
2023		D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 219: Lee did a couple of drive-bys and wondered at the stick-up merchant’s choice of hideout.
2024		J. Meades Empty Wigs (t/s) 578: He’s on the immensely plump side for a rock musician...not great for the brand... two lunch merchant... slobbering glutton.

2. (N.Z. prison) a drug seller or their stock [from SE and abbrev. merchandise].

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 116/1: merchant n. 1 an inmate in possession of a steady supply of drugs for sale to other inmates 2 an inmate’s store of drugs and/or other contraband.