Wednesday's Random Slang-o-rama: Essence-peddler

What the....? What strange term is this?

I pulled  "essence-peddler" from the book with the splendiferous title Americanisms, Old and New: A Dictionary of Words, Phrases and Colloquialisms Peculiar to the United States, British America, the West Indies, &C., &C., Their Derivation, Meaning and Application.

Actually, the title continues, but this is probably enough.

This lovely dictionary with a pub date of 1889 was compiled and edited by John Stephen Farmer. (If you're intrigued, you can find the dictionary free and downloadable here.)

Now, what do you guess an "essence-peddler" is?

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Have you had enough cogitation time? Then, I shall tell you...

It's a skunk.

And here is the definition, word for word:

essence-peddler.—The skunk. A peddler, which everyone fights shy of. This nickname is said to have been introduced by J. Russel Lowell.

Somehow, holding one's nose and running down the road yelling, "Eeeeeeuuuuw! Essence-peddler! Essence-peddler!" doesn't have the same impact as yelling "Skunk! Skunk!" But that's James Russell Lowell (American Romantic poet, &C.) for you!

Keep moving on, essence-peddler... By Diotime1 (Diotime) - https://www.flickr.com/photos/8956529@N05/555844696/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2438788