peddler

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(as) busy as a peddler

Very busy and industrious. I'm currently choreographing three plays, so I'm as busy as a peddler at the moment. Tom's always busy as a peddler working on some project or another.

pill peddler

slang Someone, especially a medical doctor, who is authorized to prescribe medication. Primarily heard in UK, Australia. Being a psychiatrist is about a whole lot more than being a pill peddler—medication should be the very last resort when treating a patient. You shouldn't go to some pill peddler every time you have a cough. You're body doesn't need all those drugs in it.

*busy as a beaver (building a new dam)

and *busy as a bee; *busy as a one-armed paperhanger; *busy as Grand Central Station; *busy as a cat on a hot tin roof; *busy as a fish peddler in Lent; *busy as a cranberry merchant (at Thanksgiving); *busy as popcorn on a skillet

very busy. (*Also: as ~.) My boss keeps me as busy as a one-armed paperhanger. I don't have time to talk to you. I'm as busy as a beaver. When the tourist season starts, this store is busy as Grand Central Station. Sorry I can't go to lunch with you. I'm as busy as a beaver building a new dam. Prying into other folks' business kept him busy as popcorn on a skillet.

busy as a beaver

Also, busy as a bee. Hardworking, very industrious, as in With all her activities, Sue is always busy as a bee, or Bob's busy as a beaver trying to finish painting before it rains. The comparison to beavers dates from the late 1700s, the variant from the late 1300s. Also see eager beaver; work like a beaver.

pill-pusher

and pill-roller and pill-peddler

n. a nickname for a physician. I went to the infirmary, but the pill-pusher wasn’t in. The lousy pill-roller just gave me some aspirin.

pill-peddler

verb

See pill-pusher

References in periodicals archive ?

In this retelling, peddlers did not take to the road as a last resort or after failing to succeed in more settled industries such as the needle trade.

Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migrations to the New World and the Peddlers Who Forged the Way

The incident took place at 23:00 when municipal policemen of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality jointly held an operation with riot police against peddlers at the square of the E[currency]irinevler.

A brawl breaks out during operation carried out against peddlers (1)

Finding themselves in strange lands among people with strange languages and customs, the peddlers set out with heavy packs on their backs, braving the elements and robbers to make a living selling all manner of goods to the locals.

Roads Taken: The Great Jewish Migrations to the New World and the Peddlers Who Forged the Way

The pushcart peddlers try to make the people understand that it is really the much-too-large and too-numerous trucks that cause all the confusion in the streets.

The Pushcart War

THE GOA government on Friday suspended five police personnel, after a sting operation revealed their alleged nexus with some drug peddlers.

Goa cops in drugs sting net

The peddlers are frequently sought by the police officers who circle the streets on mopeds and motorcycles, in vans and cars.

Working the street: distrust of immigrant street vendors is rising even as New York Chinatown's counterfeit business grows

They moved 9,295 illegal peddlers and gave 162,217 people directions and assistance.

New Fifth Avenue BID takes bite out of crime

A police spokesman said here that acting on a tip-off, a police team conducted raid in Chowk Saudia in KhairpurTamewali and arrested a drug peddler.

Drug peddler arrested

He said the peddler and his accomplices roamed in and around the university and sold narcotic-filled cigarettes for Rs200 to Rs300.

Man caught selling drugs to students

26 (ANI): Intensifying its drive against drug peddlers in the Jammu and Kashmir, the Pulwama Police on Tuesday conducted raids at various locations in district and arrested one in connection.

J-K: Police intensifies drive against drug peddlers in Pulwama

In sixth operation, the ANF Rawalpindi recovered 130 gram heroin from a local drug peddler identified as Zafar Mehmood who was arrested form Alipur Farash, Islamabad.

ANF arrests 36 supplying drugs to academic institutions with 15.3kg drugs

A perfume that costs up to SR600 can be bought for less than SR200 at a wholesaler's store," said Um Yahya, another door-to-door Saudi peddler.

Peddling for honest living

Whereas two years ago many recyclers were worried that the peddler trade was a thing of the past, the East Coast recycler notes, "It's amazing how many new people have entered the world of recycling.

Promise keepers

I sat down with them at practice to see how being a Smut Peddler has impacted them in their daily routines and in their lives.

Smut Peddlers

Stealing South features Lucy's brother Will, who now is 16 years old and wants to become a peddler, leaving his small town behind.