traveling salesman

noun

Definition of traveling salesman

: a traveling representative of a business concern who solicits orders usually in an assigned territory

Examples of traveling salesman in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His father, Francis Kenney, a traveling salesman specializing in women’s gloves, had worked as a caddy at elite country clubs and noticed that the players tended to have Ivy League educations. — James R. Hagerty, WSJ, "Jerome P. Kenney Led Merrill Lynch’s Push Into Investment Banking," 28 June 2019 In 2018 Thomas Vidick and Anand Natarajan proved that approximating maximum-win probabilities for nonlocal games is at least as hard as solving other notoriously difficult puzzles such as the traveling salesman problem. — Quanta Magazine, "In Quantum Games, There’s No Way to Play the Odds," 1 Apr. 2019 Over four days rushing around Iowa like a traveling salesman trying to meet a monthly quota, I was struck by the candidates who have already mastered the art of delivering a reliable stump speech—particularly Buttigieg, Cory Booker, and Warren. — Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, "On the Oratory Trail in Iowa," 11 June 2019 For example, can a traveling salesman pass through every U.S. state capital in less than 11,000 miles? — Quanta Magazine, "A Short Guide to Hard Problems," 16 July 2018 McArthur, now 67, moved to the Toronto area around 2000 and previously lived in a suburb where he was married, raised two children and worked as a traveling salesman of underwear and socks. — Rob Gillies, The Seattle Times, "Canada prosecutor: Serial killer staged photos of victims," 5 Feb. 2019 The problem works like this: imagine you’re a traveling salesman flying from city to city selling your wares. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "A Single Cell Hints at a Solution to the Biggest Problem in Computer Science," 27 Dec. 2018 The Keio University researchers used this efficiency to build a device to solve the traveling salesman problem. — Avery Thompson, Popular Mechanics, "A Single Cell Hints at a Solution to the Biggest Problem in Computer Science," 27 Dec. 2018 Hickey, a traveling salesman and perennial life of the party, doesn’t make his entrance until nearly an hour into show. — Ben Brantley, New York Times, "Review: In an Energized ‘Iceman,’ the Drinks are on Denzel," 26 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'traveling salesman.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.