The NYT, quoting the OED:

piepowder (n.)

(1) A wayfarer, esp. an itinerant merchant or trader. Chiefly in pl., in Court of Piepowders n. (also in sing.) a summary court formerly held at fairs and markets to administer justice among itinerant dealers and others temporarily resident.
(2) 2. = Court of Piepowders n. at sense 1. Also in pl. with sing. concord. Also attrib. in piepowder justice.

Used in a sentence in 1712 by J. Arbuthnot:

"Dost think, that John Bull will be tried by Piepowders?"

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1. Pause and reflect that you have just read the words chosen by a being living in the eighteenth century, who naturally used "dost", for example, and breathed the same air you do.

2. Use piepowder in a sentence that shows its meaning.


A