[f. as next + FOLK.] People in trade; tradespeople: a. Artisans; b. Shopkeepers.
1760–72. H. Brooke, Fool of Qual. (1809), III. 21. This is holiday in the afternoon among us trades-folk.
1885. W. H. White, M. Rutherford’s Deliv., iii. The wine-merchant … by no means associating with the tradesfolk who displayed their goods in the windows.
1890. Pollard, Eng. Miracle Plays, Introd. 11. Philosophers, saints, mimes, jugglers, monks, nuns, bishops and tradesfolk have all to play their part.
