noun.
One who acts as an intermediary between others in any matter; an intermediate lessee, contractor, negotiator, trader, broker, etc.; specifically, one who buys merchandise in bulk to sell it in smaller quantities to other traders or to retail dealers; in Ireland, a lessee of a tract of land who sublets it in parcels at an advanced rate to actual tenants or occupiers; more generally, any one who acts as a buyer and seller, or undertaker for profit, between producers or principals and consumers, users, or executants.
noun.
A man of intermediate rank; a commoner.
noun.
In the fisheries, a planter.
noun.
In negro minstrelsy, the man who sits in the middle of the semicircle of performers during the opening part of the entertainment, and leads the dialogue between songs.