colporteur

American  

[kol-pawr-ter, -pohr-, kawl-pawr-tœr] / ˈkɒlˌpɔr tər, -ˌpoʊr-, kɔl pɔrˈtœr /

noun

plural

colporteurs

1. a person who travels to sell or publicize Bibles, religious tracts, etc.

2. a peddler of books.

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colporteur British  

/ ˈkɒlˌpɔːtə, kɔlpɔrtœr /

noun

1. a hawker of books, esp bibles

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Other Word Forms

• colportage noun

Etymology

Origin of colporteur

1790–1800; < French, equivalent to colport ( er ) ( colportage ) + -eur -eur

Example Sentences

And the colporteur helps Vincent find permanent lodging with a farming family in Wasmes, the community he's serving.

From Literature

Art became a colporteur, a distributer of tracts, a mendicant missionary whose highest ambition was to suppress all heathen joy.

From Project Gutenberg

I am the possessor of the MS. of Borrow’s Gypsies of Spain, written partly in a Spanish notebook as he moved about Spain in his colporteur days. 

From Project Gutenberg

In a remote village of Spain a Bible Society’s colporteur, carrying a coloured banner, sold me a copy of Cipriano de Valera’s New Testament for a peseta. 

From Project Gutenberg

One of our guests was an old travelling preacher—'colporteur,' as he was called, since he carried about religious books for sale.

From Project Gutenberg