land agent

American  

noun

1. a person or firm engaged at a commission to obtain grants of public lands or to negotiate the buying and selling of private lands between two or more parties.

2. a government official in charge of the management of public lands.

3. British. the steward of an estate.

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land agent British  

noun

1. a person who administers a landed estate and its tenancies

2. a person who acts as an agent for the sale of land

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Other Word Forms

• land agency noun

Etymology

Origin of land agent

An Americanism dating back to 1820–30

Example Sentences

Barnard, however, was a squatter on a rancho owned by oil baron Thomas Scott, whose land agent Thomas Bard disliked the name and sought to build a wharf on Point Hueneme.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 6, 2022

Redding, its chief population center, was named for a land agent of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

From New York Times • Sep. 16, 2022

It even was pronounced by a nearby land agent as the “logical” site for our first world’s fair, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 27, 2020

The Nature Conservancy of Texas, which has a mission of protecting ecologically important lands and waters, was hired by Texas Parks and Wildlife to be its land agent.

From Washington Times • Jul. 18, 2016

And he hurried to the House of Hwang and he met the land agent there and he said without ceremony, “I have that with which to buy the land adjoining mine by the moat.”

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck