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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
haberdasher
noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A failed haberdasher before going into politics, Truman seemed overwhelmed by the job.
▪ He became a haberdasher and Merchant Adventurer, growing rich on the cloth export trade to Antwerp.
▪ The handsome delight of haberdashers succeeded.
▪ The suit also names the 49ers' chief haberdasher and hair hat, Carmen Policy.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Haberdasher

Haberdasher \Hab"er*dash`er\ (h[a^]b"[~e]r*d[a^]sh`[~e]r), n. [Prob. fr. Icel. hapurtask trumpery, trifles, perh. through French. It is possibly akin to E. haversack, and to Icel. taska trunk, chest, pocket, G. tasche pocket, and the orig. sense was perh., peddler's wares.]

  1. A dealer in small wares, as tapes, pins, needles, and thread. [Obs.]

  2. A dealer in items of men's clothing, such as hats, gloves, neckties, etc.

    The haberdasher heapeth wealth by hats.
    --Gascoigne.

  3. A dealer in drapery goods of various descriptions, as laces, silks, trimmings, etc.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
haberdasher

early 14c., "seller of various small articles of trade" (late 13c. as a surname), agent noun from Anglo-French hapertas "small wares," also a kind of fabric, of unknown origin. Sense of "dealer in men's wares" is 1887 in American English, via intermediate sense of "seller of caps."

Wiktionary
haberdasher

n. 1 A dealer in ribbons, buttons, thread, needles and similar sewing goods. 2 (context US English) A men's outfitter, usually a ''men's'' haberdasher. 3 (context British English) A member of the Haberdashers livery company.

WordNet
haberdasher

n. a merchant who sells men's clothing [syn: clothier]

Wikipedia
Haberdasher

A haberdasher is a person who sells small articles for sewing, such as buttons, ribbons, zips (in the United Kingdom), or a men's outfitter ( American English). The sewing articles are called haberdashery, or " notions" (American English).

Usage examples of "haberdasher".

She bought half a dozen black silk Steinkirk cravats and asked the haberdasher to show her how to achieve some of the intricate knots.

She is at present apprenticed, Miss Mowcher, or articled, or whatever it may be, to Omer and Joram, Haberdashers, Milliners, and so forth, in this town.

He was remarkably heavier than his popular image, too, although his apparent weight problem might be illusory, the fault of the second-rate haberdasher who had put him in a loosely fitted robe that did nothing to flatter his figure.

Bambridge, who wanted to know what Horrock would do with blasted stuff only fit for haberdashers given over to that state of perdition which the horse-dealer so cordially recognized in the majority of earthly existences.

But when my father took me to Toronto he dutifully purchased these things, though the haberdashers were surprised that they were for a boy of fourteen.

On the way we passed the avenue's empty shops, where haberdashers and tobacconists, watchmakers and smiths, joiners and cobblers and ostlers plied their trades long before our grandparents were born.

Next in frequency were the haberdashers and clothes shops, with fantastic men's snakeskin shoes, shirts with small aeroplanes as a pattern, peg-top trousers with inch-wide stripes, zoot suits.