body man
Americannoun
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a male personal assistant to a politician, who, in addition to handling daily schedule and travel logistics, serves as a constant companion and attends to the politician’s immediate personal needs.
Balancing an armful of papers, the body man ducked into a shop that sold the candidate’s preferred energy drink.
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a person who repairs and refinishes the bodies of cars, trucks, and other vehicles.
Etymology
Origin of body man
First recorded in 1915–20 body man for def. 2, and in 2000–05 body man for def. 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
There was no staff member closer to the former president than Band, his so-called body man during Clinton's second term.
From BBC ● Feb. 26, 2026
County politics for a decade, including serving as a body man for Antonio Villaraigosa during his failed gubernatorial campaign, Flores moved to Huntington Park in 2018.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 1, 2025
“Initially, it was pretty much laying out the clothing. Now it can be a kind of body man — they can carry the Altoid mints and the Sharpie pen.”
From Washington Post ● Mar. 18, 2023
One video shows the outcome of a friendly wager: “Told the body man that if I get a million views on the shop TikTok, I get to touch his beard and he said “sure.”
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 5, 2023
For all his eminent capacities of body, man is not a strong animal, nor is he so built that he can apply the measure of strength that is in him to good advantage.
From Domesticated Animals Their Relation to Man and to his Advancement in Civilization by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
