Dictionary

plain dealer en · NOUN

Etymology

From plain + dealer, after plain dealing.

Meanings

1. Someone who interacts or does business straightforwardly and honestly.
   • Ant. Why thou didst conclude hairy men plain dealers without wit. S. Dro. The plainer dealer, the sooner lost; yet he looseth it in a kind of iollitie. c. 1594 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Comedie of Errors”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
   • She as often acted the Plain-Dealer with him, and fairly told him [...] that, in Truth, she had nothign but a very Small Spot to which she had any Hereditary Right [...]. 1723, Charles Walker, Memoirs of Sally Salisbury, section VI:
   • ‘If plain speakers are scarce in this part of the world, I fancy that plain dealers are still scarcer.’ 1840 April – 1841 November, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the chapter number or name)”, in The Old Curiosity Shop. A Tale. […], London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1841, →OCLC:

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