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procurer

[proh-kyoo r-er, pruh-]
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noun
  1. a person who procures, especially a pander or pimp.
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Origin of procurer

1350–1400; Middle English (see procure, -er1); replacing Middle English procurour < Anglo-French ≪ Latin prōcūrātōr- (stem of prōcūrātor) procurator
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for procurer

Historical Examples

  • He combined two professions, that of cobbler by day and a procurer of girls by night.

    Sac-Au-Dos

    Joris Karl Huysmans

  • And what credit can the poor clerk of a procurer have, pray?

    Ten Years Later

    Alexandre Dumas, Pere

  • The third, who is in mufti, is Mr. N——, the procurer to the Chamber of Judgments.

  • One wrote that she was compelled to pay her procurer from $5 to $6 daily.

  • That evening, he wrote to the Procurer of the Republique at Rouen.

British Dictionary definitions for procurer

procurer

feminine procuress (prəˈkjʊərɪs)

noun
  1. a person who procures, esp one who procures women or girls as prostitutes
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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

Word Origin and History for procurer

n.

late 14c., "advocate, spokesman," from Anglo-French procurour, Old French procureur (13c., Modern French procureur), from Latin procuratorem (see procurator). Meaning "contriver" is from mid-15c. Specifically of one who supplies women to gratify the lusts of another from 1630s. Fem. form procuress is shortened from Old French procureresse.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper