subs. and verb: also DICKERING, subs. (American).—Barter; SWAP (q.v.): generally applied to trade in small articles.
1830. COBBETT, in Rural Rides, I., 199 (1886). It is barter, truck, change, DICKER, as the Yankees call it, but, as our horse-jockeys call it, swap, or chop.
1831–90. WHITTIER, Poems. For peddling DICKER, not for honest sales.
1888. New York Weekly Times, 28 March. He had perhaps been considering the advisability of making a DICKER with his old political opponents in the hope of bettering his condition.
1888. Denver Republican, 7 April. After some DICKERING a style of coffin was selected and a price decided upon.
