procurer

[proh-kyoo r-er, pruh-]

noun

a person who procures, especially a pander or pimp.

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. 2019

Examples from the Web for procurer

Historical Examples of procurer

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.
The Idler Magazine, Volume III, June 1893
Various
One wrote that she was compelled to pay her procurer from $5 to $6 daily.
Woman and Socialism
August Bebel
That evening, he wrote to the Procurer of the Republique at Rouen.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Arsene Lupin, Gentleman-Burglar
Maurice Leblanc

British Dictionary definitions for procurer

procurer

feminine procuress (prəˈkjʊərɪs)

noun

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

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

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.