huckster

Meanings

1. A peddler or hawker, who sells small items, either door-to-door, from a stall, or in the street.
2. Somebody who sells things in an aggressive or showy manner.
3. One who deceptively sells fraudulent products; snake oil salesman.
4. Somebody who writes advertisements for radio or television.

1. To haggle, to wrangle, or to bargain.
2. To sell or offer (goods) from place to place, to peddle.
3. To promote or sell (goods) in an aggressive, showy manner.

Etymology

From Middle English hukster, probably of Low German or Dutch origin, from Middle Low German höken (“to peddle”) or Middle Dutch hokester, itself from hoeken (“to peddle, bend, bear on the back”), all from Proto-Germanic *huk-, probably related to *hūkan- (“to squat”), from *hūkkan-, back-formed from the iterative *huk(k)ōn-, from Proto-Indo-European *kuk-néh₂, from *kewk- (“to curve, bend”) (also the source of English high). Compare hawkster. By surface analysis, huck + -ster.