curbstoning
n.— «The regular dealers pay $50 a year license and complain that they daily encounter persons who pay no license, but watch for opportunities to make sales and frequently cause the regular brokers trouble by stepping in when sales are partly completed and claiming a part of the commission. As a first step to check this curbstone business, as it is called, the following letter was yesterday sent to the District Commissioners.» —“After Curbstone Brokers” Washington Post Aug. 10, 1893. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Katie in Everett, Washington, is curious about the expression If ifs and ands were pots and pans, there’d be no need for tinkers. What is a tinker? She heard this phrase on the television series The Gilded Age, in response to a character who...