Etymology: Middle English marchaunt adventurer
: a merchant who establishes foreign trading stations and carries on business ventures abroad; especially : a member of one of the former English companies of merchant adventurers operating from the 14th to the 16th centuries
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merchant adventurer,
a person, especially a member of a commercial company, engaged in the sending out of trading expeditions to foreign parts and the establishment there of factories and trading stations.
Useful english dictionary. 2012.