chapman
chapman — noun
1. a person who buys and sells goods to make a living, especially in a time when mo
a person who buys and sells goods to make a living, especially in a time when most trade was done by travelling between towns, villages, and market fairs rather than from a fixed shop
The chapman loaded his cart with woollen cloth and set off for the York market before dawn.
collocation: chapman + cart / pack
Hugo's grandfather had been a chapman who traded salt and iron tools between villages in the Scottish lowlands.
In the town records of 1472, a chapman named Richard was fined for selling grain that had gone bad.
A chapman needed to know which goods were in demand at each market along his route.
The fair attracted chapmen from as far away as Bristol and Norwich, all hoping to strike good deals.
用法筆記
Now considered archaic. The word is rarely used in modern English except in historical fiction, academic writing about medieval trade, and British place names (e.g. Chapman Street, Chapman's Pool). Frequent in the plural form chapmen.
常見錯誤
2. a person who walks from place to place carrying small items such as ribbons, nee
a person who walks from place to place carrying small items such as ribbons, needles, kitchen knives, and clay pipes, stopping to sell them directly to local people
Village women gathered around the chapman as he unpacked his basket of ribbons, thimbles, and sewing needles.
collocation: chapman + basket / pack of small wares
A chapman appeared at the castle gate every autumn, offering the cook spices and dried fruit from distant ports.
An old ballad tells of a chapman who lost his pack while crossing the river.
Children clapped with excitement when Stefan the chapman pulled wooden whistles and clay marbles from his bag.
A chapman's life was hard — he walked twelve miles a day on muddy roads carrying everything he owned.
- customer
the buyer rather than the seller
用法筆記
Distinguish from sense 1: sense 2 emphasises small-scale, itinerant selling carried on the person (pack or basket), whereas sense 1 covers a broader range of trade including cart-based transport and stall-based selling at markets.
chapman — biographical name
1. George Chapman (1559?–1634), an English dramatist, poet, and translator best kno
George Chapman (1559?–1634), an English dramatist, poet, and translator best known for his influential translations of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey into English verse.
George Chapman's translation of the Iliad was praised by the poet John Keats in his famous sonnet.
influence on later poets: Keats sonnet
Scholars study George Chapman's plays alongside those of his contemporaries Marlowe and Shakespeare.
Chapman's Bussy d'Ambois is one of the earliest English tragedies based on French history.
Readers admire Chapman's Homer for its bold and energetic English verse style.
2. John Chapman (1774–1845), an American pioneer nurseryman better known as Johnny
John Chapman (1774–1845), an American pioneer nurseryman better known as Johnny Appleseed, who planted apple nurseries across the early American frontier.
John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed, planted apple trees across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana.
alternate name: Johnny Appleseed
American folklore remembers John Chapman as a gentle and generous figure who brought fruit to the wilderness.
Chapman's nurseries supplied apple seedlings to settlers moving west across the frontier.
No one knows exactly how many apple trees John Chapman planted, but estimates range well into the thousands.
3. Frank Michler Chapman (1864–1945), an American ornithologist who pioneered popul
Frank Michler Chapman (1864–1945), an American ornithologist who pioneered popular bird-watching and wrote influential field guides, and who founded the Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Frank Chapman's field guides helped millions of Americans identify birds in their own backyards.
field guides as accessible science
The Christmas Bird Count, started by Frank Chapman in 1900, is now the world's longest-running citizen science project.
Chapman proposed the first Christmas Bird Count as an alternative to the traditional holiday hunt.
Bird-watchers still use methods that Frank Chapman helped develop in the early twentieth century.