peddle

verb

ped·​dle ˈpe-dᵊl How to pronounce peddle (audio)
peddled; peddling ˈped-liŋ How to pronounce peddle (audio)
ˈpe-dᵊl-iŋ

intransitive verb

1
: to travel about with wares for sale
broadly : sell
peddling without a license
2
: to be busy with trifles : piddle

transitive verb

1
: to sell or offer for sale from place to place : hawk
broadly : sell
They peddled fruits and vegetables from a truck on the side of the road.
2
: to deal out or seek to disseminate
peddling personal adviceG. F. Kennan
3
: to offer or promote as valuable
peddled snake oils and miracle lotions

Examples of peddle in a Sentence

They peddled fruits and vegetables out of their truck on the side of the road. He peddled his idea for a new movie to every executive in Hollywood. The mayor's aides tried to peddle his innocence to reporters.
Recent Examples on the Web Federal prosecutors have accused Menendez and his wife, Nadine Arslanian, of illegally using the senator’s position as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to peddle influence with donors and benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for cash, gold bars, and other valuables. Emily Jacobs, Washington Examiner, 2 Nov. 2023 The 2009 family fantasy features Perry as a middle-aged man, Mike O’Donnell, a former high school basketball star who peddles erectile dysfunction pills as an adult and longs to return to his teen glory days. Los Angeles Times Staff, Los Angeles Times, 3 Nov. 2023 Day after day, followers — some with concern, others with vitriol — accuse her of peddling high-fat, high-calorie food while never eating it herself. Julia Moskin, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2023 Tate, for example, with most of his mainstream channels suspended, has a semi-exclusive presence there, and the same is true for conspiracist accounts like the X22 Report, which became a top performer on the site after getting booted from YouTube for peddling QAnon content. Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2023 Federal prosecutors have accused Menendez and his wife, Nadine, of illegally using the senator’s position as the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to peddle influence with donors and benefit the Egyptian government in exchange for cash, gold bars, and other valuables. Emily Jacobs, Washington Examiner, 25 Sep. 2023 House Speaker Kevin McCarthy launched an impeachment inquiry into Biden on Tuesday, after months of the GOP insisting that the president and his son Hunter Biden are guilty of corruption and influence peddling overseas. Tori Otten, The New Republic, 13 Sep. 2023 Patrick Leary, a laborer who had served in the Union Army after emigrating from County Kerry, Ireland, and his wife, Catherine, who kept a dairy barn and cows and peddled the milk, had five children, between the ages of one and fifteen. Margaret Talbot, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023 Turner kids, as young as 14, allegedly picked up the drugs from Luis Navarrete and Magaly Mejia Cano and peddled them to classmates at Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD schools: Turner High and Dewitt Perry and Dan F. Long middle schools. Maggie Prosser, Dallas News, 14 Sep. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'peddle.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from peddler, from Middle English pedlere, alteration of pedder peddler

First Known Use

1532, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of peddle was in 1532

Dictionary Entries Near peddle

Cite this Entry

“Peddle.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/peddle. Accessed 1 Dec. 2023.

Kids Definition

peddle

verb
ped·​dle ˈped-ᵊl How to pronounce peddle (audio)
peddled; peddling -liŋ How to pronounce peddle (audio)
-ᵊl-iŋ
1
: to travel about especially from house to house with goods for sale
2
: to sell from place to place usually in small quantities
3
: to present (something) in a manner that is intended to convince others of its value
peddled her opinion to her friends
peddler noun
also pedlar
ˈped-lər

More from Merriam-Webster on peddle

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