haberdasher

At various times throughout its history, the term "haberdasher" has referred to a dealer of hats or caps, a seller of notions (sewing supplies such as needles and thimbles), and apparently (perhaps somewhat coyly) as a person who sells liquor. Nowadays, with hats not being as fashionable as they once were, the word mostly is applied generally as a clothing outfitter for men, with "haberdashery" referring to the establishment or the goods sold there. Haberdasher derives via Middle English from "hapertas," an Anglo-French word for a kind of cloth, as does the obsolete noun "haberdash," which once meant petty merchandise or small wares.