Gamester

Someone who plays games of chance for money or other stakes. A professional gambler.

"This kind of prophane, mad entertainment they give themselves. And so I, having enough for once, refusing to venture, though Brisband pressed me hard, and tempted me with saying that no man was ever known to lose the first time, the devil being too cunning to discourage a gamester; and he offered me also to lend me ten pieces to venture, but I did refuse, and so went away, and took coach and home about 9 or 10 at night."

Samuel Pepys, Diary (January 1, 1668).

Justice of the Peace

A judge in a small community.

"My father was a justice of the peace, and I supposed he possessed the power of life and death over all men, and could hang anybody that offended him. This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboatman kept intruding, nevertheless. I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a table-cloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me: later I thought I would rather be the deck-hand who stood on the end of the stage-plank with the coil of rope in his hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But these were only day-dreams--they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities."

Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1883).

Twain on Icemen

"Natchez, like her near and far river neighbors, has railways now, and is adding to them--pushing them hither and thither into all rich outlying regions that are naturally tributary to her. And like Vicksburg and New Orleans, she has her ice factory; she makes thirty tons of ice a day. In Vicksburg and Natchez, in my time, ice was jewelry; none but the rich could wear it. But anybody and everybody can have it now. I visited one of the ice factories in New Orleans, to see what the polar regions might look like when lugged into the edge of the tropics. But there was nothing striking in the aspect of the place. It was merely a spacious house, with some innocent steam machinery in one end of it and some big porcelain pipes running here and there. No, not procelain--they merely seemed to be; they were iron, but the ammonia which was being breathed through them had coated them to the thickness of your hand with solid milk-white ice."

Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi (1883).

The Collector and the Curator

A collector is someone who collects taxes, also alms for the poor. Someone who amasses a private collection, which depends on the particular, individual mania.

"The collector's enemy is the museum curator. Ideally, museums should be looted every fifty years, and their collections returned to circulation...."

Bruce Chatwin, Utz, (1988).

Fence

A fence is someone who receives stolen goods and resells them, acting as a barrier between the customer and knowledge of the actual provenance of the items on display.

“A lawyer is an honest employment, so is mine [acting as a fence]. Like me too, he acts in a double capacity, both against rogues, and for ‘em; for ‘tis but fitting that we should protect and encourage cheats, since we live by them.”

John Gay, The Beggar’s Opera (1728).

Astronomer

A scientist who studies the stars and other heavenly bodies.

"Primitive mariners never sailed out of sight of a coast. They may have begun to lay their courses on certain well known stars. But for direct ocean crossings a considerable knowledge of astronomy was required. The Phoenicians had access to the astronomical science of Babylon. The Greeks developed it to a new level at Alexandria. Of the early Arabs, we only know that at the time of the Koran they did use the stars for guidance: 'He it is who hath appointed for you the stars that ye guide yourselves thereby in the darknesses of land and sea; we have made the signs distinct for a people who have knowledge.' This reminds us that the desert is as trackless as the sea; it was probably on camel-back that the Arabs first learned to take guidance from the signs of the sky, for want of landmarks."

George F. Hourani, Arab Seafaring (1951).

Younker

A junior seaman on a ship.

"The Younkers are the young men called Fore-mast men, to take in the Topsayles, or Top and yeard; Furle, and Sling the maine Saile; Bousing or Trysing; and take their turne at Helme."

Capt. John Smith, The accidence or the pathway to experience necessary for all Young Seamen (1626).

Blank Blank Professionals

“Old Bill thought the jasper over at Mullens’ might be able to foller a mouth harp anyway. ‘Most generally these blank blank professionals are tol’able fair on waltzes. Purty slow an’ weepy, but Lynn, yuh might prod ‘im up with a pitchfork now an’ then an’ keep ‘im ramblin’. Be better’n nothin’, mebbe.’”

B. M. Bower, On with the Dance (1934).

Peddler

A vendor who carries small goods for sale in a bundle or a pack.

"Though it would soon be morning, no cocks were crowing. From the main street, very near at hand, came the sleepy voices of peddlers offering wares with which he was quite unfamiliar. The women among them, he had heard, could look like veritable demons as they strode about in the dawn with their wares balanced on their heads."

Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji (10th Century).

Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker.

Outroper

The Common Crier of the City of London. An auctioneer.

"We do erect and create in and through the said City a certain office, called Outroper or Common Cryer, to and for the selling of Houshold stuff, apparel, leases and other things, of all persons who shall be willing that the said officers shall make sale of the same by public and open claim, commonly called outcry and sale."

Charter Charles I to London (1638).

Top Sawyer

The sawyer who uses the upper handle of a pit-saw. A first-rate hand at anything.

“Top-sawyer, signifies a man that is a master genius in any profession. It is a piece of Norfolk slang and took its rise from Norfolk being a great timber country, where the top sawyers get double the wages of those beneath them.”

Francis Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1823).

Moll

A prostitute. The girlfriend of a thief or vagrant.

"Once, when he was speaking of 'his old woman' for the time being, I asked if she was a 'crooked' one too. 'Oh, yes,' he replied; 'I never had nothin' to do with any "moll" who couldn't cut her own grass.'"

Five Years' Penal Servitude (1877).

Mugger

Someone who sells goods made of clay.

"The ware of Cooper Climent was rejected in horror, much to the benefit of his rivals the muggers, who dealt in earthenware."

Sir Walter Scott, Old Mortality (1816).

High Priestess

A female religious figure. The female counterpart of the High Priest.

"The temple prostitute performed many functions. She was the High Priestess (or he was the High Priest) of the temple. She or he would make offerings to the goddess or god of the temple, explore erotic visual delights through dance, play music, write and recite poetry, prepare sumptuous food, and concoct potions of love. The temple prostitute was, of course, also well trained in the arts of massage, touch, and erotic stimulation. Sex was a sacrament; orgasm, a religious experience. The community respected and revered the sacred prostitute as much as any priest or priestess. Prostitution was a high calling, an honorable and exalted position."

Peter McWilliams, Ain't Nobody's Business If You Do (1993).

Tower

Someone who pulls something with a rope. Someone who tows or draws a boat on a canal or river.

“These pieces of wood rest upon their breasts, and by leaning against them the towers increase the power of their exertions.”

Aeneas Anderson, A Narrative of the British Embassy to China (1795).

Steward

The person who runs the domestic affairs of a household, including the kitchen, hired workers, and expenditures. A major-domo.

Much care had gone into the planning his garden. Though the ponds and hillocks were as they had always been, the prince gazed listlessly out upon a garden returning to nature. His stewards being of a not very diligent sort, there was no one to fight off the decay. The garden was rank with weeds, and creeping ferns took over the eaves as if the house belonged to them. The freshness of the cherry blossoms in spring, the tints of the autumn leaves, had been a consolation in loneliness while he had his wife with him. Now the beauties of the passing seasons only made him lonelier."

Murasaki Shikibu, The Tale of Genji (11th Century).

Translated by Edward G. Seidensticker.

Golf-ball maker

“In 1835, Tom’s schooling ended. He was fourteen. His father lacked the money and social standing to send his sons to university; it was time for Tom to apprentice himself to a tradesman. Through a family connection, John arranged a meeting with Allan Robertson, the golf-ball maker who caddied for R&A worthies and even partnered with them in foursomes. A short, bull-necked fellow who sported filigreed waistcoats and bright-colored caps, Robertson was the first man to parlay caddying, ball-making, and playing into something like a full-time job. If his trade was a bit disreputable, at least it offered steady work. Tom’s mother might fret about her son’s working for a man who consorted with gamblers, drunkards, cheats, and low-livers, but what could she say? Her husband was for it.”

Kevin Cook, Tommy’s Honor (2007).

Goncourt on Publishers

Someone in the business of putting out books, newspapers, engravings, or sheet music.

"In a certain sense, printing proved a drawback to letters. It cast contempt on books that failed to find a publisher."

--Remy de Gourmont