[f. trade’s, gen. of TRADE + PEOPLE.] People engaged in trade; tradesmen, and their families and employees; shopkeepers.
1728. Vanbrugh & Cib., Prov. Husb., V. ii. Those Trades-people are the troublesomest Creatures! no Words will satisfy them!
1729. Fenton, in Waller’s Wks., Observ., 60/2. No trades-people would trust her for any thing.
a. 1862. Buckle, Misc. Wks. (1872), I. 579. The middle class of tradespeople were ignorant and poor.
