agencyn.

Brit.

/ˈeɪdʒ(ə)nsi/, U.S.

/ˈeɪdʒənsi/

Forms: 1600s agencie, 1600s– agency.

Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin agentia.

Etymology: < post-classical Latin agentia action, activity (from 11th or 12th cent. in British sources; already in 8th cent. denoting a farm) < classical Latin agent- , agens , present participle of agere to do, act (see act v.) + -ia -y suffix³. The semantic development of the English word has been considerably shaped by association with agent n.¹ Compare also French agence trade office (1653, earliest denoting such an office in a foreign country), position or function of an agent (1697), Italian agenzia (1678 or earlier, originally in sense ‘position or function of an agent’).

I. A person or organization acting on behalf of another, or providing a particular service.

a. The process of acting as an agent (agent n.¹ 2); the position, role, or function of an agent, deputy, or representative; an instance of this. Now somewhat rare.In earliest use: ambassadorship, embassy.

ΘΚΠ

society > authority > delegated authority > action or function of a delegate or deputy > [noun] > management on behalf of another or stewardship

bailliec1305

bailieshipc1375

dispensingc1380

dispensationc1384

dispending1388

procuracya1425

procuration1484

umboth1509

stewardship1526

proctorship1535

stewarding1548

bailiwick1550

farmership1551

factory1560

agency1600

bailiffwick1605

agentship1608

factorage1639

proctorage1641

oeconomacy1651

soliciting1663

stewartrya1763

factordom1888

1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xlv. 1203 Three delegat embassadours were sent unto him... But nothing was effected in this agencie or embassage [L. legatione].

1601 True Relation Faction begun at Wisbich 41 They found Fa. Weston exceeding loth to lay downe the scepter of his Agencie.

1650 J. Dury Reformed Librarie-keeper 21 In all publick Agencies, it is fit that som inspection should bee had over those that are intrusted therewith.

1732 J. Swift Proposal to pay off Debt of Nation in Considerations Two Bills (new ed.) 29 Content to live cheap in a worse Country, rather than be at the Charge of Exchange and Agencies.

1742 Further Rep. Comm. Secrecy Conduct Earl of Orford (House of Commons) 83 As soon as we received Notice of what had happened between the Deputies and Messieurs Merewether and Manning, we made an Alteration in our Agency.

1800 Marquess Wellesley Let. 30 Sept. in Select. Despatches (1877) 715 Foreigners generally deal directly with the natives, or with foreign houses of agency.

1871 E. Poste in tr. Gaius Institutionum Iuris Civilis iii. Comm. 350 In the contract of agency..the principal is called dominus or mandator.

1920 Times 18 Mar. 1/5 (advt.) Cologne firm wants to communicate with a first-class House with a view to taking up agency or sale on commission of articles of any trade.

2003 M. R. Freedland Personal Employment Contract ix. 495 A bank may conduct its business..through the agency of branch managers.

b. A business, body, or organization providing a particular service, or negotiating transactions on behalf of a person or group. Cf. agent n.¹ 2b.Often with modifying word specifying the service provided, as advertising, detective, employment, escort, letting, tourist agency, etc.: see the first element. Also (with capital initials) in the names of such businesses or organizations.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > selling > [noun] > selling by right of concession > establishment for

agency1760

1760 Biographia Britannica V. 3472 It [sc. Raleigh's Office of Address in Virginia] was intended to be in the capacity of an Agency, for all sorts of business.

1816 Rep. 26 Nov. in Amer. State Papers: Finance (1834) III. 343 To establish an agency in England, for the payment of the dividends upon such portion of the capital stock..as may be held by persons residing in Europe.

1882 Daily News 28 Aug. 8/7 (advt.) Ladies requiring English and Foreign Governesses..are invited to send particulars to the Governesses' Agency.

1882 Daily News 4 Sept. 6/3 General Foreign News (through Reuter's Agency).

1882 Daily News 14 Oct. 8/4 (advt.) Solicitor to a Debt Collecting and General Trades Protection Agency.

1934 B. Hughes One Egg 37 I'm planning to turn the advertising account over to a New York agency.

1994 P. Hobbs & M. Algar Free to Trav. x. 50 Services of a professional house sitter can be hired through an agency.

2011 Coventry Evening Tel. (Nexis) 22 Jan. 35 Police have warned parents and children of a..scam involving fake modelling agencies.

2. U.S. The position or office of an Indian agent; (concrete) the headquarters of such an agent; = Indian agency n. at Indian adj. and n. Compounds 1b(a). Cf. agent n.¹ 2c. Now historical.

ΚΠ

1707 S. Carolina Statutes at Large (1837) II. 314 I will neither directly nor indirectly trade with any Indian..during the time of my agency.

1784 Let. 21 May in T. Jefferson Writings (1894) III. 495 To the Southward it would be our interest to have an agency kept up with the Overhill Cherokees.

1824 in Public Statutes at Large U.S.A. (1856) IV. 25 It shall be the duty of each Indian agent to reside and keep his agency within, or near the territory claimed by the tribe or tribes of Indians for which he may be agent.

1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xiii. 198 We concluded we had better see the Creeks at home, and started afoot for the Agency.

1895 C. King Fort Frayne xvi. 228 Eleven o'clock came and..no further authority from the agency.

1967 T. W. Blackburn Good Day to Die 1 At camp they believed he had prudently ridden away from the Agency to avoid a chance meeting with soldiers.

2001 W. Roberts Powers Navajo Trading i. iii. 44 Traders initially supplied goods to an agency, as well as the Indians served by the agency, and thus were assured of good business.

3. U.S. colloquial. With the. Usually with capital initial. The Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. Cf. company n. 5e, bureau n. 2d.

ΘΚΠ

society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > political police > [noun] > secret service or police > specific American

C.I.A.1951

company1953

agency1958

cousin1977

1958 H. H. Ransom Central Intelligence & National Security iv. 84 CIA Old Hands will say that the agency has no raison d'etre by and of itself.

1977 Time 7 Feb. 20/2 As CIA director he immediately began to demythologize the agency.

1991 Village Voice (N.Y.) 29 Jan. 25/2 Years with the Agency have taught George Bush to vent his anger on small targets.

2002 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 12 May i. 13/1 ‘I have a feeling that The Agency helped make him, filled his coffers’, said one former senior CIA official.

II. Action, capacity to act.

4. Ability or capacity to act or exert power; active working or operation; action, activity.In quot. 1606 as a count noun: an action, a force.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > [noun]

workOE

operationa1393

workmanshipc1400

actionc1405

act?a1425

workinga1425

activityc1485

executiona1530

play1548

workfulness1570

inworking1587

acting1605

agency1606

operancea1625

transaction1663

operancyc1811

outworking1846

mediacy1854

functioning1856

1606 E. Forset Compar. Disc. Bodies Nat. & Politique 86 Bold busie bodies that..thrust in;..their agencies being too daungerous, where [etc.].

1658 H. Slingsby Father's Legacy in Diary (1836) 208 Privacy..if your Hours in it are not well employed, may become as dangerous as a place of agency.

1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 217 Which..has the truest Notion of Agency in it, without any Mixture of Patiency; because the Body moved cannot re-act upon it.

1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will i. v. 30 The moral Agency of the Supreme Being..differs in that Respect from the moral Agency of created intelligent Beings.

1830 S. T. Coleridge On Constit. Church & State 140 The State shall leave the largest portion of personal free agency to each of its citizens, that is compatible with the free agency of all.

1911 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 463 At certain stages of organic evolution consciousness appears as a kind of byproduct and has no agency in the life drama itself.

1994 L. Cochran & J. Laub Becoming Agent vi. 176 A model is..capable of inspiring a person, providing strong motivation to strive for more agency.

2005 R. Toor Pig & I (2009) viii. 179 This..fantasy of giving up agency, of being stripped of having to make hard choices.

a. Action or intervention producing a particular effect; means, instrumentality, mediation.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun]

ministration1495

moyena1578

ministry1581

agency1625

instrumentalness1632

instrumentality1646

instrumency1652

canal1722

instrumentation1841

1625 A. Darcie tr. W. Camden Hist. Elizabeth ii. 330 Queene Elizabeth..had by the Agencie of Killigrew [L. opera Killegraei], brought the Duke of Chastelraut, and the Earle of Huntley..to these Conditions.

1674 W. Lloyd Difference Church & Court of Rome 17 The Agency of the Romish Factors with the King of Spain, for the procuring a second Invasion of their Native Country.

1685 J. Flavell Πνευματολογια 41 This infection [sc. the soul by the body] is by way of Physical agency, as a rusty Scabbard infects and defiles a bright Sword.

a1733 D. Wilcox 64 Pract. Serm. (1744) I. 63 God employs his angels..in the world... Not that God needs the agency of any of his creatures, but for the honour of his majesty [etc.].

1785 T. Jefferson Let. 4 Sept. in Papers (1953) VIII. 473 To set our treaty with the pyratical states into motion through his agency.

1815 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. (ed. 2) xvi. 439 The geologists who exclude the agency of fire from the formation of rocks.

1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 175 A complete explanation and reconciliation were brought about by the agency of Gilbert Burnet.

1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species Introd. 3 Requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other.

1921 Sci. Amer. Monthly Jan. 76/1 The disease [sc. bubonic plague] was carried from sick rats to man through the agency of fleas.

2009 P. Ackroyd Venice vii. xxii. 203 Does it [sc. Venice] exist, and survive, by the agency of some inner or intrinsic force?

b. Such action embodied or personified; a being or thing that acts to produce a particular effect or result. Cf. agent n.¹ 3.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means

keyOE

toolc1000

wherewithc1230

ministerc1380

meanc1390

instrumenta1425

organ?a1425

mesne1447

moyen1449

handlec1450

hackneya1500

receipta1500

operative1526

ingine1531

appliance1555

agent1579

matter1580

mids1581

wedge1581

wherewithal1583

shoeing-horn1587

engine1589

instrumental1598

Roaring Meg1598

procurement1601

organy1605

vehicle1615

vehiculuma1617

executioner1646

facility1652

operatory1660

instrumentality1663

expedient1665

agency1684

bladea1713

mechanic1924

mechanism1924

1684 R. Bovet Pandæmonium Advt. 239 Agencies above the reach of our comprehensions,..which surpass the strength, power, and capacity of the most robust Mortal.

1696 Bp. J. Williams Several Ways of Revalation 16 The Senses were therefore bound up..by a supernatural Agency.

1708 Brit. Apollo 24–29 Sept. Fearing the concurrence of an Infernal Agency, he wisely bid adieu to that suspected Art.

1786 S. Henley tr. W. Beckford Arabian Tale 36 An invisible agency arrested his progress [Fr. avoit été retenu comme par une main invisible].

1829 R. Southey Poet. Epist. to A. Cunningham in Poet. Wks. 725/1 And still Hooft and Antonides Are living agencies.

c1854 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) i. 35 The agency by which the sea was dried up was ‘a strong east wind’.

1933 R. E. Jones et al. Fighting Tanks since 1916 179 Supporting smoke should be put down by suitable agencies so as to protect the tanks.

2010 A. Frey Brit. State Romanticism 10 An agency [sc. the state] that molds individuals and through them the nation as a whole.

6. Grammar. The fact or quality of being a grammatical agent (agent n.¹ 1c).

ΘΚΠ

the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > [noun] > function word

particle1533

parcel1571

syncategorem1655

agency1778

empty word1854

symbolic1871

form-word1875

structural word1884

particule1889

pheme1906

structure word1925

function word1927

operator1938

logical word1940

keneme1950

rheme1953

functor1958

1778 N. B. Halhed Gram. Bengal Lang. iv. 138 All these modifications of the verb, together with nouns of agency,..are arranged by the Shanscrit grammarians in a separate chapter.

a1832 J. Bentham Ess. Logic in Wks. (1843) VIII. 228/2 Not but that in the intransitive verb agency is expressed; but in this case so is passion, or say, to avoid ambiguity, patiency.

1910 W. H. Fraser & W. H. van der Smissen German Gram. for Schools & Colleges 199 This form of the passive..is never used when agency is expressed or implied.

1984 Language 60 551 The -an syllable..should be the easiest to identify, and then to use to indicate agency.

2012 R. Scollon et al. Intercultural Communication (ed. 3) vi. 131 In English and most other languages we have quite a number of ways in which ‘agency’ can be expressed.

Compounds

C1.

a. General attributive in sense 1, as agency business, agency contract, agency work, etc.

ΚΠ

1763 Crit. Rev. Oct. 264 Being himself interested in shipping, insurancing and agency-business in the public funds.

1843 Documents accompanying Jrnl. Senate Mich. 72 The following are the principal provisions of the agency contract.

1893 Jrnl. Inst. Actuaries 31 21 Local centres from which the agency system of particular districts can be most easily reached.

1919 Printers' Ink 3 Apr. 164/1 (advt.) Copy-Writer, account executive, ten years' agency experience.

1967 Advertising Age 24 July 67 Agency head Lester Wunderman..believes the answer is..what he terms ‘direct marketing’.

1991 Vermont May 29/2 The New Yorker had sent him to schmooze with the magazine's advertisers and agency people.

2004 World Soccer Dec. 30/4 During the 1980s he edged out of journalism into agency work.

agency nurse n.

ΚΠ

1935 Milbank Memorial Fund Q. 13 269 (table) Health Department nurses... Henry Street nurses... Other agency nurses.

1979 G. Mercer Employment of Nurses iii. 90 (note) Some..become agency nurses and are then asked to work in the NHS.

2006 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 8 Oct. 7/2 A plea for registered agency nurses to fill 41 vacancies at 13 hospitals.

agency staff n.

ΚΠ

1856 Railway Rec. 19 Apr. 249/2 No similar institution possesses an agency staff..better calculated to extend the business of the company in their several districts.

1868 Western Temperance Herald 1 Sept. 132/1 Other arrangements will shortly be made, so as to insure an agency staff, adequate to the requirements of our extended district.

1940 P. Atwater Probl. of Admin. in Social Work ii. 33 It is a splendid thing to invite other executives, supervisors, and professional workers to meet with the agency staff.

1999 Independent 9 Nov. ii. 2/2 Your article implied that agency staff are not entitled to join a union. That is not so.

C2. General attributive in sense 2, as agency building, agency store, etc. Now historical.

ΚΠ

1806 National Intelligencer & Washington Advertiser 20 Jan. A hatter's shop is established at the agency house by Nimrod Doyle... Some Indian lads have promised to apply to him for instruction.

1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxv. 527 The last grain in the Agency storehouse was issued to them on the 14th.

1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xvi. 249 The band..unite in the quadrangle inclosed by the Agency buildings.

1901 S. E. White Westerners viii. 57 Rain-in-the-Face was at once an agency Indian and a reckless man.

2007 T. Rees Arc Med. Line iv. 102 By the mid-1850s..the Sioux had become entirely dependent on treaty payments and agency stores.

C3.

agency broker n. Stock Market a broker or firm of brokers acting on commission as an intermediary between clients and dealers or (more recently) market-makers.

ΘΚΠ

society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > stock-broker > type of

agency broker1827

short1849

shunter1888

taker1899

coulissier1910

1827 Atlas 24 June 389/3 Mr. Pollock, an agency broker in the City.

1899 Morning Post 5 July 8/4 Fry and Co. as manufacturers' representatives and agency brokers.

1910 Northwestern Reporter 127 1101/2 The tendency..is to lower the business standard of an agency broker and to permit a broker's commission to become a mere matter of plunder.

1986 Times 14 Nov. 27/6 These are difficult times for agency brokers.

2011 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 16 Mar. (Business section) b7 Rosenblatt Securities, an agency broker that does a lot of research on market structure.

agency broking n. Stock Market the process or practice of acting as an agency broker.

ΚΠ

1984 Stock Exchange Q. Sept. 14/1 A number of broking firms are apprehensive about the viability of pure agency broking in a competing market maker system.

2004 Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. 65 Making money out of agency broking is not the easiest of things to do.

agency shop n. chiefly U.S. a system whereby a recognized trade union receives a sum of money from non-members equivalent to the subscriptions of members, in recognition of the collective bargaining done by the union on non-members' behalf; a place of work operating this system (cf. union shop n. at union n.² Compounds 3); also attributive, as agency shop agreement, etc.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > working > association of employers or employees > [noun] > trade union > system not requiring union membership

agency shop1949

1949 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 4 Apr. 2/1 Government labor experts suggested legalizing the so-called ‘agency shop’ which does not force a worker to join a union but does require him to pay his fair share of the cost of negotiating..union contracts.

1963 Economist 27 Apr. 326/1 The Douglas Aircraft Corporation..broke ranks and agreed to an ‘agency shop’.

1971 Mod. Law Rev. 34 vi. 660 Only a registered union can be a party to a valid agency-shop agreement.

2011 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl. (Nexis) 3 Apr. 11 It reminds every teacher that this is a vocation, not an agency shop.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

单词	agency
释义	agencyn. Brit. /ˈeɪdʒ(ə)nsi/, U.S. /ˈeɪdʒənsi/ Forms: 1600s agencie, 1600s– agency. Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin agentia. Etymology: < post-classical Latin agentia action, activity (from 11th or 12th cent. in British sources; already in 8th cent. denoting a farm) < classical Latin agent- , agens , present participle of agere to do, act (see act v.) + -ia -y suffix³. The semantic development of the English word has been considerably shaped by association with agent n.¹ Compare also French agence trade office (1653, earliest denoting such an office in a foreign country), position or function of an agent (1697), Italian agenzia (1678 or earlier, originally in sense ‘position or function of an agent’). I. A person or organization acting on behalf of another, or providing a particular service. 1. a. The process of acting as an agent (agent n.¹ 2); the position, role, or function of an agent, deputy, or representative; an instance of this. Now somewhat rare.In earliest use: ambassadorship, embassy. ΘΚΠ society > authority > delegated authority > action or function of a delegate or deputy > [noun] > management on behalf of another or stewardship bailliec1305 bailieshipc1375 dispensingc1380 dispensationc1384 dispending1388 procuracya1425 procuration1484 umboth1509 stewardship1526 proctorship1535 stewarding1548 bailiwick1550 farmership1551 factory1560 agency1600 bailiffwick1605 agentship1608 factorage1639 proctorage1641 oeconomacy1651 soliciting1663 stewartrya1763 factordom1888 1600 P. Holland tr. Livy Rom. Hist. xlv. 1203 Three delegat embassadours were sent unto him... But nothing was effected in this agencie or embassage [L. legatione]. 1601 True Relation Faction begun at Wisbich 41 They found Fa. Weston exceeding loth to lay downe the scepter of his Agencie. 1650 J. Dury Reformed Librarie-keeper 21 In all publick Agencies, it is fit that som inspection should bee had over those that are intrusted therewith. 1732 J. Swift Proposal to pay off Debt of Nation in Considerations Two Bills (new ed.) 29 Content to live cheap in a worse Country, rather than be at the Charge of Exchange and Agencies. 1742 Further Rep. Comm. Secrecy Conduct Earl of Orford (House of Commons) 83 As soon as we received Notice of what had happened between the Deputies and Messieurs Merewether and Manning, we made an Alteration in our Agency. 1800 Marquess Wellesley Let. 30 Sept. in Select. Despatches (1877) 715 Foreigners generally deal directly with the natives, or with foreign houses of agency. 1871 E. Poste in tr. Gaius Institutionum Iuris Civilis iii. Comm. 350 In the contract of agency..the principal is called dominus or mandator. 1920 Times 18 Mar. 1/5 (advt.) Cologne firm wants to communicate with a first-class House with a view to taking up agency or sale on commission of articles of any trade. 2003 M. R. Freedland Personal Employment Contract ix. 495 A bank may conduct its business..through the agency of branch managers. b. A business, body, or organization providing a particular service, or negotiating transactions on behalf of a person or group. Cf. agent n.¹ 2b.Often with modifying word specifying the service provided, as advertising, detective, employment, escort, letting, tourist agency, etc.: see the first element. Also (with capital initials) in the names of such businesses or organizations. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > selling > [noun] > selling by right of concession > establishment for agency1760 1760 Biographia Britannica V. 3472 It [sc. Raleigh's Office of Address in Virginia] was intended to be in the capacity of an Agency, for all sorts of business. 1816 Rep. 26 Nov. in Amer. State Papers: Finance (1834) III. 343 To establish an agency in England, for the payment of the dividends upon such portion of the capital stock..as may be held by persons residing in Europe. 1882 Daily News 28 Aug. 8/7 (advt.) Ladies requiring English and Foreign Governesses..are invited to send particulars to the Governesses' Agency. 1882 Daily News 4 Sept. 6/3 General Foreign News (through Reuter's Agency). 1882 Daily News 14 Oct. 8/4 (advt.) Solicitor to a Debt Collecting and General Trades Protection Agency. 1934 B. Hughes One Egg 37 I'm planning to turn the advertising account over to a New York agency. 1994 P. Hobbs & M. Algar Free to Trav. x. 50 Services of a professional house sitter can be hired through an agency. 2011 Coventry Evening Tel. (Nexis) 22 Jan. 35 Police have warned parents and children of a..scam involving fake modelling agencies. 2. U.S. The position or office of an Indian agent; (concrete) the headquarters of such an agent; = Indian agency n. at Indian adj. and n. Compounds 1b(a). Cf. agent n.¹ 2c. Now historical. ΚΠ 1707 S. Carolina Statutes at Large (1837) II. 314 I will neither directly nor indirectly trade with any Indian..during the time of my agency. 1784 Let. 21 May in T. Jefferson Writings (1894) III. 495 To the Southward it would be our interest to have an agency kept up with the Overhill Cherokees. 1824 in Public Statutes at Large U.S.A. (1856) IV. 25 It shall be the duty of each Indian agent to reside and keep his agency within, or near the territory claimed by the tribe or tribes of Indians for which he may be agent. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xiii. 198 We concluded we had better see the Creeks at home, and started afoot for the Agency. 1895 C. King Fort Frayne xvi. 228 Eleven o'clock came and..no further authority from the agency. 1967 T. W. Blackburn Good Day to Die 1 At camp they believed he had prudently ridden away from the Agency to avoid a chance meeting with soldiers. 2001 W. Roberts Powers Navajo Trading i. iii. 44 Traders initially supplied goods to an agency, as well as the Indians served by the agency, and thus were assured of good business. 3. U.S. colloquial. With the. Usually with capital initial. The Central Intelligence Agency, the CIA. Cf. company n. 5e, bureau n. 2d. ΘΚΠ society > law > law enforcement > police force or the police > political police > [noun] > secret service or police > specific American C.I.A.1951 company1953 agency1958 cousin1977 1958 H. H. Ransom Central Intelligence & National Security iv. 84 CIA Old Hands will say that the agency has no raison d'etre by and of itself. 1977 Time 7 Feb. 20/2 As CIA director he immediately began to demythologize the agency. 1991 Village Voice (N.Y.) 29 Jan. 25/2 Years with the Agency have taught George Bush to vent his anger on small targets. 2002 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 12 May i. 13/1 ‘I have a feeling that The Agency helped make him, filled his coffers’, said one former senior CIA official. II. Action, capacity to act. 4. Ability or capacity to act or exert power; active working or operation; action, activity.In quot. 1606 as a count noun: an action, a force. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > [noun] workOE operationa1393 workmanshipc1400 actionc1405 act?a1425 workinga1425 activityc1485 executiona1530 play1548 workfulness1570 inworking1587 acting1605 agency1606 operancea1625 transaction1663 operancyc1811 outworking1846 mediacy1854 functioning1856 1606 E. Forset Compar. Disc. Bodies Nat. & Politique 86 Bold busie bodies that..thrust in;..their agencies being too daungerous, where [etc.]. 1658 H. Slingsby Father's Legacy in Diary (1836) 208 Privacy..if your Hours in it are not well employed, may become as dangerous as a place of agency. 1697 J. Sergeant Solid Philos. 217 Which..has the truest Notion of Agency in it, without any Mixture of Patiency; because the Body moved cannot re-act upon it. 1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will i. v. 30 The moral Agency of the Supreme Being..differs in that Respect from the moral Agency of created intelligent Beings. 1830 S. T. Coleridge On Constit. Church & State 140 The State shall leave the largest portion of personal free agency to each of its citizens, that is compatible with the free agency of all. 1911 Pop. Sci. Monthly May 463 At certain stages of organic evolution consciousness appears as a kind of byproduct and has no agency in the life drama itself. 1994 L. Cochran & J. Laub Becoming Agent vi. 176 A model is..capable of inspiring a person, providing strong motivation to strive for more agency. 2005 R. Toor Pig & I (2009) viii. 179 This..fantasy of giving up agency, of being stripped of having to make hard choices. 5. a. Action or intervention producing a particular effect; means, instrumentality, mediation. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] ministration1495 moyena1578 ministry1581 agency1625 instrumentalness1632 instrumentality1646 instrumency1652 canal1722 instrumentation1841 1625 A. Darcie tr. W. Camden Hist. Elizabeth ii. 330 Queene Elizabeth..had by the Agencie of Killigrew [L. opera Killegraei], brought the Duke of Chastelraut, and the Earle of Huntley..to these Conditions. 1674 W. Lloyd Difference Church & Court of Rome 17 The Agency of the Romish Factors with the King of Spain, for the procuring a second Invasion of their Native Country. 1685 J. Flavell Πνευματολογια 41 This infection [sc. the soul by the body] is by way of Physical agency, as a rusty Scabbard infects and defiles a bright Sword. a1733 D. Wilcox 64 Pract. Serm. (1744) I. 63 God employs his angels..in the world... Not that God needs the agency of any of his creatures, but for the honour of his majesty [etc.]. 1785 T. Jefferson Let. 4 Sept. in Papers (1953) VIII. 473 To set our treaty with the pyratical states into motion through his agency. 1815 R. Bakewell Introd. Geol. (ed. 2) xvi. 439 The geologists who exclude the agency of fire from the formation of rocks. 1849 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 175 A complete explanation and reconciliation were brought about by the agency of Gilbert Burnet. 1859 C. Darwin Origin of Species Introd. 3 Requiring the agency of certain insects to bring pollen from one flower to the other. 1921 Sci. Amer. Monthly Jan. 76/1 The disease [sc. bubonic plague] was carried from sick rats to man through the agency of fleas. 2009 P. Ackroyd Venice vii. xxii. 203 Does it [sc. Venice] exist, and survive, by the agency of some inner or intrinsic force? b. Such action embodied or personified; a being or thing that acts to produce a particular effect or result. Cf. agent n.¹ 3. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > advantage > usefulness > use (made of things) > instrumentality > [noun] > (a) means keyOE toolc1000 wherewithc1230 ministerc1380 meanc1390 instrumenta1425 organ?a1425 mesne1447 moyen1449 handlec1450 hackneya1500 receipta1500 operative1526 ingine1531 appliance1555 agent1579 matter1580 mids1581 wedge1581 wherewithal1583 shoeing-horn1587 engine1589 instrumental1598 Roaring Meg1598 procurement1601 organy1605 vehicle1615 vehiculuma1617 executioner1646 facility1652 operatory1660 instrumentality1663 expedient1665 agency1684 bladea1713 mechanic1924 mechanism1924 1684 R. Bovet Pandæmonium Advt. 239 Agencies above the reach of our comprehensions,..which surpass the strength, power, and capacity of the most robust Mortal. 1696 Bp. J. Williams Several Ways of Revalation 16 The Senses were therefore bound up..by a supernatural Agency. 1708 Brit. Apollo 24–29 Sept. Fearing the concurrence of an Infernal Agency, he wisely bid adieu to that suspected Art. 1786 S. Henley tr. W. Beckford Arabian Tale 36 An invisible agency arrested his progress [Fr. avoit été retenu comme par une main invisible]. 1829 R. Southey Poet. Epist. to A. Cunningham in Poet. Wks. 725/1 And still Hooft and Antonides Are living agencies. c1854 A. P. Stanley Sinai & Palestine (1858) i. 35 The agency by which the sea was dried up was ‘a strong east wind’. 1933 R. E. Jones et al. Fighting Tanks since 1916 179 Supporting smoke should be put down by suitable agencies so as to protect the tanks. 2010 A. Frey Brit. State Romanticism 10 An agency [sc. the state] that molds individuals and through them the nation as a whole. 6. Grammar. The fact or quality of being a grammatical agent (agent n.¹ 1c). ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > study of grammar > a part of speech > [noun] > function word particle1533 parcel1571 syncategorem1655 agency1778 empty word1854 symbolic1871 form-word1875 structural word1884 particule1889 pheme1906 structure word1925 function word1927 operator1938 logical word1940 keneme1950 rheme1953 functor1958 1778 N. B. Halhed Gram. Bengal Lang. iv. 138 All these modifications of the verb, together with nouns of agency,..are arranged by the Shanscrit grammarians in a separate chapter. a1832 J. Bentham Ess. Logic in Wks. (1843) VIII. 228/2 Not but that in the intransitive verb agency is expressed; but in this case so is passion, or say, to avoid ambiguity, patiency. 1910 W. H. Fraser & W. H. van der Smissen German Gram. for Schools & Colleges 199 This form of the passive..is never used when agency is expressed or implied. 1984 Language 60 551 The -an syllable..should be the easiest to identify, and then to use to indicate agency. 2012 R. Scollon et al. Intercultural Communication (ed. 3) vi. 131 In English and most other languages we have quite a number of ways in which ‘agency’ can be expressed. Compounds C1. a. General attributive in sense 1, as agency business, agency contract, agency work, etc. ΚΠ 1763 Crit. Rev. Oct. 264 Being himself interested in shipping, insurancing and agency-business in the public funds. 1843 Documents accompanying Jrnl. Senate Mich. 72 The following are the principal provisions of the agency contract. 1893 Jrnl. Inst. Actuaries 31 21 Local centres from which the agency system of particular districts can be most easily reached. 1919 Printers' Ink 3 Apr. 164/1 (advt.) Copy-Writer, account executive, ten years' agency experience. 1967 Advertising Age 24 July 67 Agency head Lester Wunderman..believes the answer is..what he terms ‘direct marketing’. 1991 Vermont May 29/2 The New Yorker had sent him to schmooze with the magazine's advertisers and agency people. 2004 World Soccer Dec. 30/4 During the 1980s he edged out of journalism into agency work. b. agency nurse n. ΚΠ 1935 Milbank Memorial Fund Q. 13 269 (table) Health Department nurses... Henry Street nurses... Other agency nurses. 1979 G. Mercer Employment of Nurses iii. 90 (note) Some..become agency nurses and are then asked to work in the NHS. 2006 Sunday Tel. (Sydney) 8 Oct. 7/2 A plea for registered agency nurses to fill 41 vacancies at 13 hospitals. agency staff n. ΚΠ 1856 Railway Rec. 19 Apr. 249/2 No similar institution possesses an agency staff..better calculated to extend the business of the company in their several districts. 1868 Western Temperance Herald 1 Sept. 132/1 Other arrangements will shortly be made, so as to insure an agency staff, adequate to the requirements of our extended district. 1940 P. Atwater Probl. of Admin. in Social Work ii. 33 It is a splendid thing to invite other executives, supervisors, and professional workers to meet with the agency staff. 1999 Independent 9 Nov. ii. 2/2 Your article implied that agency staff are not entitled to join a union. That is not so. C2. General attributive in sense 2, as agency building, agency store, etc. Now historical. ΚΠ 1806 National Intelligencer & Washington Advertiser 20 Jan. A hatter's shop is established at the agency house by Nimrod Doyle... Some Indian lads have promised to apply to him for instruction. 1873 J. H. Beadle Undeveloped West xxv. 527 The last grain in the Agency storehouse was issued to them on the 14th. 1878 J. H. Beadle Western Wilds xvi. 249 The band..unite in the quadrangle inclosed by the Agency buildings. 1901 S. E. White Westerners viii. 57 Rain-in-the-Face was at once an agency Indian and a reckless man. 2007 T. Rees Arc Med. Line iv. 102 By the mid-1850s..the Sioux had become entirely dependent on treaty payments and agency stores. C3. agency broker n. Stock Market a broker or firm of brokers acting on commission as an intermediary between clients and dealers or (more recently) market-makers. ΘΚΠ society > trade and finance > stocks and shares > [noun] > dealer in stocks and shares > stock-broker > type of agency broker1827 short1849 shunter1888 taker1899 coulissier1910 1827 Atlas 24 June 389/3 Mr. Pollock, an agency broker in the City. 1899 Morning Post 5 July 8/4 Fry and Co. as manufacturers' representatives and agency brokers. 1910 Northwestern Reporter 127 1101/2 The tendency..is to lower the business standard of an agency broker and to permit a broker's commission to become a mere matter of plunder. 1986 Times 14 Nov. 27/6 These are difficult times for agency brokers. 2011 Gazette (Montreal) (Nexis) 16 Mar. (Business section) b7 Rosenblatt Securities, an agency broker that does a lot of research on market structure. agency broking n. Stock Market the process or practice of acting as an agency broker. ΚΠ 1984 Stock Exchange Q. Sept. 14/1 A number of broking firms are apprehensive about the viability of pure agency broking in a competing market maker system. 2004 Times (Nexis) 6 Nov. 65 Making money out of agency broking is not the easiest of things to do. agency shop n. chiefly U.S. a system whereby a recognized trade union receives a sum of money from non-members equivalent to the subscriptions of members, in recognition of the collective bargaining done by the union on non-members' behalf; a place of work operating this system (cf. union shop n. at union n.² Compounds 3); also attributive, as agency shop agreement, etc. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > working > association of employers or employees > [noun] > trade union > system not requiring union membership agency shop1949 1949 Wisconsin State Jrnl. 4 Apr. 2/1 Government labor experts suggested legalizing the so-called ‘agency shop’ which does not force a worker to join a union but does require him to pay his fair share of the cost of negotiating..union contracts. 1963 Economist 27 Apr. 326/1 The Douglas Aircraft Corporation..broke ranks and agreed to an ‘agency shop’. 1971 Mod. Law Rev. 34 vi. 660 Only a registered union can be a party to a valid agency-shop agreement. 2011 Providence (Rhode Island) Jrnl. (Nexis) 3 Apr. 11 It reminds every teacher that this is a vocation, not an agency shop. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.1600
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