a person who stands outside a place where there is entertainment and shouts to people to go in (在娱乐场所门外)大声招徕顾客者,拉客者 Word Originlate Middle English: from bark ‘a sound made by dogs and some other animals’ + -er. The original sense was ‘a person or animal that barks; a noisy protestor’, hence the current sense (late 17th cent.).