colporteur
Americannoun
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colporteurs
plural
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a person who travels to sell or publicize Bibles, religious tracts, etc.
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a peddler of books.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of colporteur
1790–1800; < French, equivalent to colport ( er ) ( see colportage) + -eur -eur
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:
A colporteur was reading the parable of the Prodigal Son in a Paris cafe much frequented by North African workmen.
From Time Magazine Archive
And the colporteur helps Vincent find permanent lodging with a farming family in Wasmes, the community he's serving.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
The English colporteur, Mr. Copley, has given away 1,000 copies of the New Testament during the year, and he is aided by a band of foreign colporteurs quite as active as himself.
From Cities of the Dawn by J. Ewing (James Ewing) Ritchie
This colporteur has a keen, clean mind—any one can see that—and I like him for his childlike straightness of soul.
From Seeds of Pine by Janey Canuck
The colporteur refused to cancel the sale, and the man was sorely perplexed, reluctant to lose both his money and that for which the money was paid.
From Life and Work in Benares and Kumaon, 1839-1877 by James Kennedy
Some facts: Total number of Bibles, New Testaments and portions of Scripture distributed last year: 11,888,226, of which 7,604.625 copies were sold by the colporteurs.
From Time Magazine Archive
By far, the larger part of this total circulation is distributed by sale to individuals, through colporteurs, pastors, mission workers and others.
From Time Magazine Archive
But mostly the word is spread by the Society's volunteer workers and colporteurs, hawkers of Holy Writ who carry Bibles, pamphlets and records by donkey and jeep, camel and subway in 123 different countries.
From Time Magazine Archive
To awaken interest in his campaign, Borrow planned to print a thousand advertisements, which were to be posted in various parts of the city, and to employ colporteurs to vend the books in the streets.
From The Life of George Borrow by Herbert George Jenkins
Consul Parkes and Captain Hall were engaged among other colporteurs in the rather dangerous labour of distributing tracts and bills.
From The Sea: Its Stirring Story of Adventure, Peril, & Heroism. Volume 1 by Frederick Whymper
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