jowter
verbEtymology Variant of chowter.
jowter
noun/ˈd͡ʒaʊtə(ɹ)/
Etymology Of unknown origin. The alternative form jouster shows addition of the -ster suffix. Compare later jolter (“hawker, peddlar”).
1
Archaic A buyer and seller of fish, usually operating from a cart or a van.
- fish drivers , whom we call jowters1609, Richard Carew, The Survey of Cornwall, London: […] S[imon] S[tafford] for Iohn Iaggard, […], →OCLC:
- He lifted out the catfish and selected a small carp. They watched the needle swing. The old jowter twisted up the apron in his hands. Two and a half, he said.1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, page 68: