rag-and-bone man

[rag-uhn-bohn]

noun

British.

1. a peddler who buys and sells used clothes, rags, etc.; junkman.

rag-and-bone man

noun

1. US equivalent: junkman. Also called: ragman.  ragpicker. a man who buys and sells discarded clothing, furniture, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of rag-and-bone man¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

An Irving Penn series commissioned once by Withers similarly portrays men and women holding traditional blue-collar jobs: a chimney sweep, a cobbler, a fishmonger and what was then known as a rag-and-bone man, a sack slung over his shoulder.

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Death could tug readers’ heartstrings, drive serial sales or lend credence to controversial scientific theories, as with the spontaneous combustion of the rag-and-bone man Mr. Krook in “Bleak House,” an impossible conversion of matter into ooze that Dickens lustily defended.

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Exploring alternatives, he moves even further back on the historical scale, trying his luck as a rag-and-bone man.

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Job possibilities seemed more varied and exciting: my boyfriend dropped out of school, became a rag-and-bone man, and found us a stall on the Portobello Road, where I sold tailors’ trimmings – a heavenly relief after a week teaching music in Tower Hamlets.

Read more on The Guardian

Hip-hop’s rag-and-bone man took the stage and let fly with his eroticized paen to second-hand shopping, the massive hit “Thrift Shop” — and the crowd went ballistic.

Read more on Seattle Times