Definition of standover merchant in English:
standover merchant
(also standover man)
nounˈstandəʊvə ˌməːtʃ(ə)nt
Australian informal A person who uses intimidation to impose their will.
a rather unpleasant example of a political standover merchant
Example sentencesExamples
- He didn't know of Hammer's friend Steiger, one of the last, old-fashioned standover merchants on the coast.
- I wouldn't have no standover merchants or drugs or ratbags in the place.
- Not all standover merchants in the sex industry go to prison.
- He claimed he was being made a scapegoat by the inquiry and strenuously denied he was a standover man.
- The prisoner who wears a gold bracelet or gold watch is, assuming he is not one of the predators or standover merchants, more likely to be on the receiving end of violence.
- The two were standover men who had warned the nightclub owner that his club 'might go up' at any time.
- All I can say is, pity help the would-be standover merchant who tries to lean on, or recruit, those siblings.
- He drifted into crime, beginning his long career as a standover man.
- How could one man evade an entire police force and a support group of experienced Italian standover merchants?
- For years he'd worked on the wharves, notorious for standover men.
Origin
1930s: from the Australian sense of stand over 'threaten, extort money from' + merchant.