travelling salesman
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun A traveling salesman is a salesperson whose job involves traveling to different locations to visit and solicit business from customers, rather than selling from a fixed store or office location.
Usage
This term specifically refers to a person whose primary work activity is traveling to meet clients. It describes the occupation itself. * The travelling salesman spent most of his week driving between small towns to visit shops. * Before the internet, a travelling salesman was often the main link between a manufacturer and local retailers.
Advanced Usage
- The Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP): This is a famous algorithmic problem in computer science and operations research. It asks: "Given a list of cities and the distances between each pair, what is the shortest possible route that visits each city exactly once and returns to the origin city?" It is named by analogy to the logistical challenge a traveling salesman might face.
- Solving the Traveling Salesman Problem efficiently is crucial for optimizing delivery routes.
Variants and Related Words
- Traveling Salesperson / Travelling Salesperson: A gender-neutral modern variant of the term.
- Commercial Traveler: A more formal synonym.
- Road Warrior: (Informal) A modern term often used for any professional who spends excessive time traveling for business, not exclusively sales.
- Sales Representative (Sales Rep): A broader term that can include, but is not limited to, those who travel.
Synonyms
- Commercial traveler
- Itinerant merchant
- Road salesman
Related Idioms and Phrases
- On the road: A common phrase describing the state of traveling for work, frequently associated with this profession.
- As a travelling salesman, he was on the road for three weeks every month.
Noun
- a salesman who travels to call on customers