scalper

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. One who scalps, or takes a scalp.
2. n. In milling, a machine or apparatus for scalping. A machine for removing the fuzz from the ends of grain, as wheat or rye, and for cleaning off the surface-impurities accumulated in the fuzz, and the dirt which gathers in the creases of the berries, called crease-dirt. Such machines usually act by attrition upon the surfaces of the grain without crushing the latter.
3. n. One who sells at less than official or recognized rates; specifically, a dealer in railway and other tickets who shares his commission with his customer, or who purchases unused tickets and coupons at cheap rates, and sells them at a slight advance, but for less than the official price; a ticket-broker.
4. n. An instrument of surgery, used in scraping foul and carious bones; a raspatory.
5. n. A heavy, compressed leather boot shaped to cover the forward portion of the cornet.
6. n. In lumbering. See rosser.

Wiktionary

1. n. US One who scalps tickets to popular entertainment events: buying them in advance and then selling them (e.g. online or just outside the venue of the event), often at inflated prices
2. n. finance A person on an open outcry exchange trading floor who buys and sells rapidly for his or her own account, aiming to buy from a seller and a little later sell to a buyer, making a small profit from the difference (roughly the amount of the bid/offer spread, or less).

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. One who, or that which, scalps.
2. n. (Surg.) Same as Scalping iron, under Scalping.
3. n. Cant A broker who, dealing on his own account, tries to get a small and quick profit from slight fluctuations of the market.
4. n. Cant A person who buys and sells the unused parts of railroad tickets.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. someone who buys something and resells it at a price far above the initial cost