essence peddler
A humorous and now-obsolete American slang term for a skunk — the animal, not the person.
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Born ~1850 · no dated citations yetDefinitions
A humorous and now-obsolete American slang term for a skunk — the animal, not the person. 'Essence' here is a sardonic euphemism for the skunk's notorious spray, and 'peddler' suggests the creature as if it were going door to door selling its unpleasant product. Typical of 19th-century American folk humor and its fondness for elaborate euphemistic nicknames for animals.
A surprised essence-peddler had been through the henhouse sometime in the night, and you could smell it from the road.
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(US, slang, obsolete) A skunk.
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