Forms: α. 1 céap-, cepe-, cyp-, cypemann, 2–3 chapmon, 3 cæpmon, 3–4 chepman; β. 3 chapmon, 3– chapman, (Orm. chappmann, 6 shapman). [OE. céapmann = OHG. choufman, (OHG., MHG. koufman), Ger. kaufmann, MDu., Du. koopman, WGer. type *kaupmann; f. kaup, OHG. chouph, OS. côp, OE. céap barter, business, dealing + mann man. OE. had also the by-forms cýp-, cýpe-, cépemann founded on the vb. cíępan, cýpan, cípan to sell (:—WGer. *kaupjan); see CHEAP v. The normal ME. repr. of OE. céapmann was chepman (with vowel shortened by position); but sometimes, in OE. ea, eo, e blended with a preceding palatal, leaving a or o as the vowel, hence the surviving form chapman.]
1. A man whose business is buying and selling; a merchant, trader, dealer. Obs. or arch.
α. c. 890. K. Ælfred, Bæda, II. i. (Bosw.). Cypemen moniʓ cepeþing to ceapstowe brohte.
a. 1000. Law Ine, § 25, in Thorpe, Laws, I. 118 (Bosw.). Ȝif ceapman uppe on folce ceapie, do þæt beforan ʓewitnessum.
c. 1205. Lay., 13313. Her beoð chæpmen [c. 1275 chepmen] icumen. Ibid., 30681. Swulc he weore a chepmon.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4186. Selle we him to ȝone chepmen.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 285. Þanne schipmen [v.r. chepmen] wolde have i-bouȝt his bisshopriche.
a. 1400. Usages Winchester, in Eng. Gilds, 357. Gadere þat ryȝte of chepmen.
β. α. c. 1200. Ormin, 15783. Ut off Godes temmple he draf chappmenn.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4239. Þir chapmen þat haue ioseph boght.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 247.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 69. Chapman, negociator, mercator.
1577. Harrison, England, II. v. (1877), I. 131. So should few honest chapmen be brought to decaie.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 247. It is not a meete thing that man should be both chapman and customer.
1767. Blackstone, Comm., II. 476. The calling of a chapman, who is one that buys and sells any thing.
1859. Times, 16 April, 9/4. He [Mr. Cobden] has made for us the best bargain, the most favourable as well as the most generous, ever made by chapman.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 278. Sometimes too would the foreign chapmen come, And beach their dromond in the sandy bay.
fig. 1529. Frith, Antith. (1829), 301. The Pope and bishops suffer chapmen in the church, that minister the sacraments for money daily unto the common people.
† b. pl. People engaged in buying and selling; market people. Obs.
a. 1225. Juliana, 52. Heo leac him efter hire endelong þe cheping chepmenne huting [v.r. chapmen to huting].
1393. Gower, Conf., I. 262. The chapmen of such mercerie … So many shulden beie and selle.
† c. Petty chapman: A retail dealer; esp. = 2.
1553. Act 5 & 6 Edw. VI., c. 21. No Tinker, Pedler, or petit Chapman shall wander about from the Towne … but such as shall be licenced by two Justices of Peace.
1605. Camden, Rem., 182. A King to buy and sell the bodies of men, as it were a petie-chapman.
1639. Horn & Robotham, Gate Lang. Unl., xlv. § 491. Petty chapmen buy up commodities of those that sell by whole sale; and sell them off dearer by retaile, and parcell them out.
1745. De Foe, Eng. Tradesm., I. Introd. 1. Such as carry goods from market to market, or from house to house, to sell, we usually call petty chapmen.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. vi. 196. Before he was twenty he followed the army as a petty chapman.
2. An itinerant dealer who travels about from place to place selling or buying; one who keeps booths at markets, etc.; a hawker, pedlar.
1592. H. Chettle, Kind-Harts Dr. (1841), 17. Chapmen, able to spred more pamphlets … then all the bookesellers in London.
1627. Donne, Serm., clvii. Wks. 1839, VI. 262. Let … Travellers [look] after fair-days, and Chapmen after market-days.
1745. De Foe, Eng. Tradesm., II. xxxii. 58. The country chapman to whom the tradesman sends his goods.
1790. Burns, Tam o’ Shanter, 1. When chapman billies leave the street.
1806. Gazetteer Scotl., 429. A general meeting of the travelling chapmen or pedlars of the three Lothians.
1831. Dyce, Life of Greene, Wks. I. Introd. p. xlviii. They were sold on ballad-mongers’ stalls and hawked about the country by chapmen, constituting the favourite reading of the vulgar.
† 3. An agent in a commercial transaction; a negotiator, broker. Obs.
1570. Levins, Manip., 20. A chapman, institor.
1654. C. Lyttleton, in Hatton Corr. (1878), 12. If she please I should find her a chapman … that may lay out her mony to ye best advantage.
1659. Hammond, On Ps. lv. 22 annot. 285. A Syrian merchant … bidding his chapman weigh out his parcel.
† 4. A purchaser; a customer. Obs. or dial.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 418. Ancre þet is cheapild, heo cheapeð hire soule þe chepmon of helle.
1393. Gower, Conf., II. 298. He is gone To seche … His stone to selle and so he dede And lefte it with his chapman there.
1539. Will of T. Everard (Somerset Ho.). Yf none of my children will bye it I will my executours shall take ther beste chapman.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, II. vii. § 3. 337.
a. 1674. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., XIV. (1843), 810/1. His majesty therefore writ to prince Rupert … he should find some good chapmen to buy the ships.
1688. Lond. Gaz., No. 2380/4. The Real Estate of the said Bankrupt will be sold to the best Chapman.
1745. Swift, Direct. Servants, Wks. 1745, VIII. 8. Your father sent a cow to you to sell, and you could not find a chapman till nine at night.
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), III. 152. When they meet with a likely chapman, they produce other [prints] of the most obscene and mischievous kind.
5. dial. (See quot.)
1863. Atkinson, Yorksh. Gloss. N. Riding, Chapman, a distinctive name applied to horses of the Cleveland breed.
