Numero
. Homme de numero—that is “un homme fin en affaires.” M. Walckenaer says it is a shop phrase, meaning that he knows all the numbers of the different goods, or all the private marks indicative of price and quality.
“Il nʹétoit lors, de Paris jusqu a Rome,
Galant qui sût si bien le numero.”
La Fontaine: Richard Minutolo.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.