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legman

American  
[leg-man, -muhn] / ˈlɛgˌmæn, -mən /

noun

  • legmen
    plural
  1. a person employed to transact business outside an office, especially on behalf of one whose responsibilities require presence in the office.

  2. Journalism. a reporter who gathers information by visiting news sources or by being present at news events.


legman British  
/ ˈlɛɡmən /

noun

  1. a newsman who reports on news stories from the scene of action or original source

  2. a person employed to run errands, collect information, etc, outside an office

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of legman

1920–25. leg + man


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.

See Examples For:

As a young legman, whose job was to file notes to senior reporters, Bernstein was at the White House when Kennedy’s coffin was returned in the early-morning hours after his assassination.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 14, 2022

Since I then covered the tournament for Newsweek and wrote a column elsewhere that appeared only monthly, I had the time to act as his legman.

From Golf Digest ● Mar. 23, 2020

Anderson’s first job in Washington was as a researcher — a legman, in the lingo — for the journalist Drew Pearson, the muckraking founder of “Washington Merry-Go-Round.”

From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2010

Breitbart went to work for Drudge and served as his legman for 15 years, learning how to excavate news items from databases and wire-service feeds.

From Time ● Mar. 29, 2010

A tireless legman, he often strips himself of his insignia of rank, goes out to live and fight with G.I.s to find out what they feel, think, want, need.

From Time Magazine Archive

By the summer of 1973, the world was riveted by the Watergate hearings, and Anderson and his legmen were scrambling for stories.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 24, 2014

This was whacked down to $161 million, enough for 66,000 legmen.

From Time Magazine Archive

The Russians sent bright young Comintern legmen like Michael Borodin to "cooperate" with Sun Yat-sen at Canton while organizing the Communist Party of China at the same time.

From Time Magazine Archive

Their work is anything but orthodox: cinema students actually help shoot Italian films; journalists work as legmen for Rome reporters.

From Time Magazine Archive

In his Pfister Hotel suite, Kennedy slumped in a chair watching television; Brother Bob hovered anxiously over a telephone, jotting down the reports of local legmen.

From Time Magazine Archive

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