小词详解 | peddle

peddle 英 [ˈpedl] 美 [ˈpedl]

TEM8

外刊例句

• Technology firms and consultancies are knocking on their doors peddling alluring concepts like the “digital oil rig” and the “oilfield of the future”.
  科技公司和咨询公司正在敲石油业的大门，推销“数字化石油钻井平台”和“未来油田”等诱人的概念。
  ——《经济学人》
• Some now believe tech is like the tobacco industry — corporations that make billions of dollars peddling a destructive addiction.
  现在，有些人认为，科技就像烟草业，通过兜售一种具有破坏性的“瘾”来赚取数十亿美元。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] try to sell (something, especially small goods) by going from house to house or place to place
[动词] 挨家挨户推销或巡回销售（某物，尤指小商品）

深入解读

Peddle 一词于1837年逆构自名词 peddler （沿街叫卖的流动小贩、货郎），既可以表示“挨家挨户上门推销”，也可以指“到处巡回叫卖”，比如：

• 他的工作是上门推销抹布和刷子。这项苦活令他劳累不堪。
  He worked as a door-to-door salesman peddling cloths and brushes. The toil had fatigued him.
• 他到伦敦小画廊兜售自己的画作，结果以大败告终。
  His attempts to peddle his paintings around London's tiny gallery scene ended in a fiasco.

可供四处兜售的不只是商品物资，还有某种思想、观点、消息等，因此 peddle 很自然地引申出“宣扬、散布、散播”一义，比如：

• 散布恶意的谣言
  peddle vicious gossip

• 散播过度的怀疑和悲观
  peddle inordinate doubts and pessimism

值得注意的是， peddle 的发音与表示自行车“踏板”的 pedal 一词相同，在听的时候要注意区别。

名著用例

They peddle out such a fish as that by the pound in the markethouse there; everybody buys some of him; his meat's as white as snow and makes a good fry.
人家会在市场上论磅出售，每个人都会买一点。肉象雪一般白，煎着吃美味可口。

出自美国著名作家马克·吐温的长篇儿童文学作品《哈克贝利·芬历险记》（Adventures of Huckleberry Finn）。该作品是小说《汤姆·索亚历险记》（The Adventures of Tom Sawyer）的续集，为美国文学史上相当重要的作品。

同近义词

• vend: offer (small items, especially food) for sale, especially either from a stall or from a slot machine
• hawk: carry around and offer (goods) for sale, typically advertising them by shouting

往期回顾