monger
[muhng-ger, mong-]
- a person who is involved with something in a petty or contemptible way (usually used in combination): a gossipmonger.
- Chiefly British. a dealer in or trader of a commodity (usually used in combination): fishmonger;cheesemonger.
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- to sell; hawk.
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Origin of monger
before 1000; Middle English (noun); Old English mangere, equivalent to mang(ian) “to trade, act as a monger” (≪ Latin mangō “salesman”) + -ere -er1; cognate with Old Norse, Old High German mangari
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for mongering
Historical Examples
Cornelia grew weary and sick of the excitement, the fashionable chatter, the mongering of low gossips.
A Friend of CaesarWilliam Stearns Davis
monger
- (in combination except in archaic use) a trader or dealerironmonger
- (in combination) a promoter of something unpleasantwarmonger
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Word Origin
Old English mangere, ultimately from Latin mangō dealer; compare Old High German mangari
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for mongering
monger
n.
Old English mangere "merchant, trader, broker," from mangian "to traffic, trade," from Proto-Germanic *mangojan (cf. Old Saxon mangon, Old Norse mangri), from Latin mango (genitive mangonis) "dealer, trader, slave-dealer," from a noun derivative of Greek manganon "contrivance, means of enchantment," from PIE root *mang- "to embellish, dress, trim." Used in comb. form in English since at least 12c.; since 16c. chiefly with overtones of petty and disreputable.
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monger
v.
1928, from monger (v.). Not considered to be from Old English mangian. Related: Mongered; mongering (1846).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper