rag-and-bone man

[ rag-uhn-bohn ]

nounBritish.
  1. a peddler who buys and sells used clothes, rags, etc.; junkman.

Origin of rag-and-bone man

1
First recorded in 1850–55

Words Nearby rag-and-bone man

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rag-and-bone man in a sentence

  • The things were sold for next to nothing to such as cared to buy them, and the local rag-and-bone man reaped a fine harvest.

  • "The 'ouse, mum," said the rag-and-bone man, whose profession demanded tact and politeness.

    Mrs. Bindle | Hebert Jenkins
  • He is like the hangman or jailer or rag-and-bone man; a necessary evil.

  • In her indescribable childish way she would coquet with a tax-collector or a rag-and-bone man or the Archbishop of Canterbury.

    The Morals of Marcus Ordeyne | William J. Locke
  • One "nark" was a rag-and-bone man, who worked the country for miles around.

    Beggars | W. H. (William Henry) Davies

British Dictionary definitions for rag-and-bone man

rag-and-bone man

noun
  1. British a man who buys and sells discarded clothing, furniture, etc: Also called: ragman, ragpicker US equivalent: junkman

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012