wheeler-dealer en · NOUN
Etymology
From wheel and deal, equivalent to wheel + -er + deal + -er.
Meanings
-
(informal) A shrewd political or commercial schemer, especially one who is unscrupulous; a hustler; a shady operator.
It is illegal to buy and sell this sort of item, he says, but not necessarily illegal to buy and sell the containers that they happen to come in. What an unexpected wheeler dealer.
2024 December 6, Stuart Heritage, “Meet the Rees-Moggs: a bluffer’s guide to the family’s weirdness”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:Seated at separate tables to underscore their differing levels of involvement with indicted savings and loan wheeler-dealer Charles Keating, the five were fighting to regain reputations earned in a lifetime of public service.
1990 November 26, Ed Magnuson, Hays Gorey, “You Sold Your Office”, in Time:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| wheeler-dealers | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| wheelerdealer | alternative | lexicographic | |
| wheeler dealer | alternative | lexicographic |
Relateds
wheeler-dealing · wheel and deal
Translations (14)
uk комбіна́тор (political or commercial schemer) · he עַסְקוּנָה (political or commercial schemer) · de Geschäftemacherin (political or commercial schemer) · fr arnaqueur (political or commercial schemer) · it faccendiere (political or commercial schemer) · fr affairiste (political or commercial schemer) · es chueco (political or commercial schemer) · de Geschäftemacher (political or commercial schemer) · ru махина́тор (political or commercial schemer) · fi puliveivari (political or commercial schemer) · da krejler (political or commercial schemer) · it intrallazzatore (political or commercial schemer) · it macchinatore (political or commercial schemer) · fr charlatan (political or commercial schemer)