skin merchant

• skin-merchant

skin merchant (plural skin merchants)

1. One who trades in skin-based products like furs and leather.
   • 1929, E. C. Laidlay, “Fur”, in Encyclopaedia Britannica: A New Survey of Universal Knowledge, volume 9: Extraction to Gambrinus, page 939:

     The fur broker buys and sells on commission for his clients, while the skin merchant buys for his own stock the kinds of furs for which he anticipates a demand. Each class of trader is of necessity an expert in raw furs, and the skin merchant can tell not only the exact grade and value of a skin, but often the precise district of its country of origins.

   • 1928 January, L. H. Kreitman, “The Open Forum: The Question—The Answer”, in The Fur Journal, volume II, number 1, page 40:

     But (Mr. Schneider now points his finger accusingly the skin merchant is generally successful, extracting the major profit at the root, which he does not transmit to the rest of the trade.

2. (obsolete, derogatory) A recruiting officer.
   • 1781, John Burgoyne, chapter III, in The Lord of the Manor, section II:

     Capt. Trepan says: ‘I am a manufacturer of honour and glory—vulgarly called a recruiting dealer—or, more vulgarly still, a skin merchant.’

3. (colloquial) A prostitute.
   • 2023 July 16, John Carcieri and Danny McBride, “For Out of the Heart Comes Evil Thoughts” (19:23 from the start), in Jonathan Watson, director, The Righteous Gemstones, season 3, episode 6 (television; overall work in English), spoken by Judy Gemstone (Edi Patterson), United States: HBO Entertainment and Rough House Pictures, via HBO:

     When Chad fucked the skin merchant, what did he do to make it better with y’all?

• William Dwight Whitney and Benjamin E. Smith, editors (1911), “skin-merchant”, in The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia: The Century dictionary ... prepared under the superintendence of William Dwight Whitney ... rev. & enl. under the superintendence of Benjamin E. Smith, The Century Co., page 5673
• Partridge, Eric (2002), “skin-merchant”, in Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: Colloquialisms and Catch Phrases, Fossilised Jokes and Puns, General Nicknames, Vulgarisms and Such Americanisms as Have Been Naturalised, 8 edition, Routledge, →ISBN, page 1078
• “skin merchant”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.