Procurer

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person engaged in the act of obtaining or acquiring items or services for others, particularly in a manner that may involve negotiation or solicitation of illicit activities
2. An individual who secures and retrieves goods or services, often involving dealings that may include those of an unlawful nature
3. A person who obtains or arranges for goods or services on behalf of someone else ; someone who arranges or manages unlawful agreements or transactions

Etymology: The surprising thing about "procurer" is how far its original meaning sits from its modern sense. The word descends from Latin "prōcūrātor," an agent who managed affairs on someone else's behalf, and in Roman administration a "procurator" could be a financial official or governor. English inherited this sense through Anglo-Norman and Old French "procureor," which passed into Middle English as "procurour" and meant a person who acted or managed for another, much like a steward or proxy. The modern meaning of obtaining things for others, especially with a suggestion of illicit dealings, came later. It is the sense of an agent who arranges supplies or favours on another's behalf that narrowed over time into the pimp-like figure the word now usually suggests. The word is a doublet of "proctor" and "procurator," which came into English through different routes and kept more of the original administrative and legal sense.

Synonyms: supplier, provider, attainer, acquirer, getter

Antonyms: loser, seller, distributor, refuser, relinquisher