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dicker - 7 dictionary results

dick⋅er

1  [dik-er]
Use dicker in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to deal, swap, or trade with petty bargaining; bargain; haggle.
2. to barter.
3. to try to arrange matters by mutual bargaining: They dickered for hours over some of the finer points of the contract.
–noun
4. a petty bargain.
5. a barter or swap.
6. an item or goods bartered or swapped.
7. a deal, esp. a political deal.
Origin:
1795–1805; perh. v. use of dicker 2

dick⋅er

2  [dik-er]
–noun
the number or quantity ten, esp. a lot of ten hides or skins.
Origin:
1225–75; ME diker < OF dacre, ML dikeria; cf. L decuria decury
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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dick·er   (dĭk'ər)   
intr.v.   dick·ered, dick·er·ing, dick·ers
To bargain; barter.
n.  The act or process of bargaining.

[Probably from dicker, a quantity of ten, ten hides, from Middle English diker, perhaps from Old English *dicor, from Latin decuria, set of ten, from decem, ten; see dek in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Dicker

Dick"er\, n. [Also daker, dakir; akin to Icel. dekr, Dan. deger, G. decher; all prob. from LL. dacra, dacrum, the number ten, akin to L. decuria a division consisting of ten, fr. decem ten. See Ten.]

1. The number or quantity of ten, particularly ten hides or skins; a dakir; as, a dicker of gloves. [Obs.]

A dicker of cowhides. --Heywood.

2. A chaffering, barter, or exchange, of small wares; as, to make a dicker. [U.S.]

For peddling dicker, not for honest sales. --Whittier.

Dicker

Dick"er\, v. i. & t. To negotiate a dicker; to barter. [U.S.] "Ready to dicker. and to swap." --Cooper.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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dicker  (v.)
"haggle, bargain in a petty way," 1802, Amer.Eng., perhaps from dicker (n.) "a unit or package of tens," especially hides (attested from c.1275), probably from L. decuria "parcel of ten" (supposedly a unit of barter on the Roman frontier), from decem "ten."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: dick·er
Pronunciation: 'di-k&r
Function: intransitive verb
Inflected Forms: dick·ered; dick·er·ing
: to seek to arrive at a workable and agreeable arrangement by negotiating and haggling
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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