colportage

American  

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

noun

1. the work of a colporteur.

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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

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

With this, let me put an end to my "time at the colportage" for today.

From My Life and My Efforts by Olesch, Gunther

This was simply because of this circle of people from the realm of trashy literature and colportage, who were determined to, as they themselves used to put it, "destroy me".

From My Life and My Efforts by Olesch, Gunther