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colportage

American  
[kol-pawr-tij, -pohr-, kawl-pawr-tazh] / ˈkɒlˌpɔr tɪdʒ, -ˌpoʊr-, kɔl pɔrˈtaʒ /

noun

  1. the work of a colporteur.


Etymology

Origin of colportage

1840–50; < French, equivalent to colport ( er ) to hawk (literally, carry on the neck; see col, port 5) + -age -age

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The fact that Münchmeyer published colportage did not compel me to write for him nothing but a trashy colportage-novel.

From My Life and My Efforts by Olesch, Gunther

On Monday I went back to my colportage, but that night I was taken with a sharp attack of bronchitis, with high fever, and obliged to keep my room at the hotel.

From The Autobiography of a Journalist, Volume I by Stillman, William James

"But I'm planning entirely different things, and no one will persuade me to work for the colportage!"

From My Life and My Efforts by Olesch, Gunther

The figures do not include the large sums expended annually in the colportage work of Bible and tract societies, in Sunday school missions, and in the building of churches and parsonages.

From A History of American Christianity by Bacon, Leonard Woolsey

This untrue statement has its source with a bookseller of colportage, who had an interest in spreading it around, in order to make as much money as possible by exploiting my name.

From My Life and My Efforts by Olesch, Gunther

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