"ply" = "to hawk"

[Jonathan Lighter]

Absent from OED is this, possibly catachrestic, use of "to ply" :

2005 SignOnSanDiego.com (June 29) [ http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20050629-0500-arts-ripper.html  ] To the annoyance of local residents, the summer brings a surge in tourists to Whitechapel district, where blood from slaughterhouses once ran down the cobbled streets and around 40,000 prostitutes plied their wares by gas light.

Undoubtedly a blend of "plied their trade" and "hawked their wares."

JL


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