Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun One that buys merchandise from manufacturers and sells it to retailers.
  • noun One that works by the job or by the contract.
  • noun Chiefly British A middleman in the exchange of stocks and securities among brokers.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun One who does anything by the job; one who does small jobs or chance work.
  • noun One who lets out or furnishes horses or carriages by the week or month; a job-master.
  • noun One who purchases goods in bulk and resells them to smaller dealers; a middleman.
  • noun On the London stock-exchange, a dealer in stocks and bonds on his own account; a stock-exchange operator to whom brokers sell, and from whom they buy, it being; contrary to stock-exchange etiquette for brokers to negotiate with each other; a middleman or intermediary acting between brokers.
  • noun One who renders the discharge of a trust subservient to private ends; especially, an intriguer who turns public work to his own or his friends' advantage; hence, one who performs low or dirty work in office, politics, or intrigue.
  • noun One who or that which jobs, pecks, or stabs: used in composition: as, tree-jobber or wood-jobber (a woodpecker); nut-jobber (a nuthatch).

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun One who works by the job.
  • noun engraving A dealer in the public stocks or funds; a stockjobber.
  • noun One who buys goods from importers, wholesalers, or manufacturers, and sells to retailers.
  • noun One who turns official or public business to private advantage; hence, one who performs low or mercenary work in office, politics, or intrigue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic One who works by the job.
  • noun business An intermediary who buys and sells merchandise.
  • noun US, business A type of intermediary in the apparel industry, as well as others, who buys excess merchandise from brand owners and manufacturers, and sells to retailers at prices that are 20-70% below wholesale. Because of the negative connotations of the word "jobber," they are now referred to by the more politically-correct term - "Off-price specialists."
  • noun UK, finance A market maker on the stock exchange
  • noun obsolete, UK, finance A promoter or broker of stocks for investment.
  • noun professional wrestling slang a performer whose primary role is to lose to established talent.
  • noun A thing (often used in a vague way to refer to something the name of which one cannot recall).

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone who buys large quantities of goods and resells to merchants rather than to the ultimate customers

Etymologies

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Examples

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  • "BARTLEY: (Working at the halter, to Cathleen.)

    Let you go down each day, and see the sheep aren't jumping in on the rye, and if the jobber comes you can sell the pig with the black feet if there is a good price going."

    - J. M. Synge, 'Riders to the Sea'.

    December 13, 2008

  • seen jobber on the news today to mean
    the poor guy paid to lose a wrestling match on televised wrestling.
    http://globalnews.ca/video/1312917/squires-take-life-after-wrestling

    May 6, 2014

  • jobber Synonyms wholesaler, middleman

    March 22, 2015

  • Cf. jobbery.

    February 12, 2016

  • jobberywacky

    February 13, 2016