These costermongers absorb more than a third of the whole Billingsgate supply; of sprats and fresh herrings they take fully two-thirds.
The area of the market, as soon as the costermongers appear, speedily becomes broken up into numbers of little circles, strictly intent upon the eye of individuals who take up a position high over their heads upon the boards or stands.
As an evidence that the endeavours to improve the London costermongers morally as well as physically, have not been thrown away, we may add the following anecdotes.
An archbishop carried off a prize; several costermongers did the same; and a truly cosmopolitan feeling was exhibited when the prizes were distributed.
Under such drawbacks, however, there are probably still as many as thirty thousand costermongers in and about the metropolis.
The costermongers had bought a donkey of unusual size, strength, and beauty; they decked him profusely with ribbons, and brought him into the Hall.
The costermongers of London streets hold cowardice in loathing:--"we must work our fists well; we are all handy with our fists.
The costermongers of London number between thirty and forty thousand.
Why do not Pall Mall exquisites join with the costermongers in this pronunciation?
Put~, a game at cards, once fashionable, but now played among thieves and costermongers only.
The word "dollar" is in general use amongcostermongers and their customers, and signifies exactly five shillings.
Cow-lick~, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and tramps usually twist forward from the ear; a large greasy curl upon the cheek, seemingly licked into shape.
Newgate Knocker~, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear.
But the costermongers boast that it is known only to themselves; that it is far beyond the Irish, and puzzles the Jews.
Costermongers are not alone, even in the present day, in this belief.
I alluded in a recent chapter to the costermongers as a large and worthy class.
Before her trouble she and her husband were costermongers and hawkers of fruit.
My father had thirty barrows, which he let out to the costermongers at the rate of eighteen pence a day each; and some of those men could clear eight or ten shillings a day by their traffic.
This will also account to you for the way in which costermongers in the streets are able to sell fruit (cherries particularly) and peas, in the season, for just one half of the price at which they can be bought at respectable dealers.
Properly a shoulder-strap used by costermongers to draw their barrows.
Regarding the latter expression the Slang Dictionary says: “‘Newgate knocker,’ the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist back towards the ear.
The names and descriptions of various instruments employed by costermongers in China would fill a good-sized volume.
Costermongers and others acquire certain rights to doorsteps or snug corners in Chinese cities which are not usually infringed by competitors in the same line of business.
The road and the pavements are crowded in the extreme; the din is deafening; but the shrill voices of the costermongers in the side-streets are heard even above the thunders of the City.
After a time, this back language, on BACK-SLANG, as it is called by the costermongers themselves, comes to be regarded by the rising generation of street sellers as a distinct and regular mode of speech.
Amongst costermongers this term is invariably applied to ladies, or the wives of tradesmen, and females generally of the classes immediately above them.
These men, to use their own term “are the haristocracy of the street sellers,” and despise the costermongers for their ignorance, boasting that they live by their intellect.
Victoria Theatre, London,—patronised principally by costermongers and low people; also the street abbreviation of the Christian name of her Majesty the Queen.
COW-LICK, the term given to the lock of hair which costermongers and thieves usually twist forward from the ear; a large greasy curl upon the cheek, seemingly licked into shape.
The hours are from half-past eight to twelve, sometimes to one or two in the morning, and never later than two, as the costermongers are early risers.
There is not much quarreling over the cards, unless strangers play with them, and then the costermongers all take part one with another, fairly or unfairly.
With the great majority of the costermongers this fondness is still as dominant as it was among the "higher classes," when boxers were the pets of princes and nobles.
Skittles" is another favorite amusement, and the costermongers class themselves among the best players in London.
The costermongers boast of their skill in pugilism as well as at skittles.
But the sound was renewed; and she perceived that it was produced by some costermongers passing under her window and moving farther on.
One afternoon, at about four o'clock, there was a violent altercation between two costermongers at the bottom of the street.
But come up-stairs into this concert-room, where about a hundred costermongers and shoemakers are listening to the charms of song.
The costermongers might be seen pushing out their barrows of vegetables, fruit, and coarse fish.
That answer was given in the unexpected form of a question addressed to a group of costermongers who were standing at the other side of the bar.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "costermongers" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
