hawking

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act of offering goods for sale, especially by calling out to passers-by or by moving from place to place.

   Street hawking provides a modest income for many families in the city.

   Local authorities cracked down on the hawking of counterfeit handbags near the station.

   Similarpeddling, selling, touting

   Note

   Mostly a mass noun, as in street hawking or the hawking of goods, but it can also count separate acts of selling and take a plural. Chinese Literature in 1982 describes a busy waterfront where "the hawkings and peddlings of all sorts of wares" filled the scene. Pairing it with peddling is natural, since both name the trade of carrying goods to the buyer.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of hawk.

   The peddlers were hawking their wares to everyone who walked past.

   Hawking goods on the platform without a permit can lead to a fine.

   Note

   The -ing form carries every meaning of hawk, and they sit far apart: hunting with a trained hawk, striking on the wing, peddling goods by street cry, and clearing or coughing up from the throat. An object usually settles it. Hawking wares is selling, and hawking mucus is coughing. With no object it can be the bird's swoop or a heavy throat-clearing. The noun with the same spelling is the act of peddling.

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