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shopkeeper

[shop-kee-per]
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noun
  1. a retail merchant or tradesman; a person who owns or operates a small store or shop.

Origin of shopkeeper

First recorded in 1520–30; shop + keeper
Related formsshop·keep·ing, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for shopkeeping

Historical Examples

  • And what is true of a shopkeeper is true of a shopkeeping nation.

    Familiar Quotations

    John Bartlett

  • Shopkeeping is here profitable, and mechanics are highly paid.

  • "And shopkeeping Englishmen," murmured Clyffurde, under his breath.

    The Bronze Eagle

    Emmuska Orczy, Baroness Orczy

  • They indeed were so once, but the shopkeepers have long ceased from their shopkeeping.

    The Hardy Country

    Charles G. Harper

  • Sir Coutts Lindsay is described as an amateur, both in art and shopkeeping, who must take up one business or the other.

    The Life of James McNeill Whistler

    Elizabeth Robins Pennell

British Dictionary definitions for shopkeeping

shopkeeper

noun
  1. a person who owns or manages a shop or small store
Derived Formsshopkeeping, noun
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

Word Origin and History for shopkeeping

shopkeeper

n.

1520s, from shop (n.) + keeper.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper