purchasing agent

American  

noun

1. a person who buys materials, supplies, equipment, etc., for a company.

2. an independent buyer acting as a hired agent.

---

Etymology

Origin of purchasing agent

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

“He is his own purchasing agent, cashier, paymaster, building superintendent, construction engineer and sales director,” the article said.

From Seattle Times • Oct. 2, 2018

When FBI agents arrested Bahram Mechanic in April last year, prosecutors described the Houston-based Iranian-American entrepreneur as an illegal purchasing agent for Iran’s military and a threat to national security.

From Reuters • Jan. 21, 2016

Quinn’s father was a purchasing agent for Wilkins Rogers Mills, which ground wheat into flour on the Georgetown canal front.

From Washington Post • May 30, 2015

Lance Hamann, 40, works as a purchasing agent for the Department of Agriculture at a vocational jobs center in Puxico, Mo. His salary is a bit more than $40,000.

From New York Times • Dec. 6, 2010

Thus would our Treasury Department be made practically the purchasing agent in this country of any syndicate or combination of English merchants who might desire silver for the East India trade.

From Money: Speech of Hon. John P. Jones, of Nevada, On the Free Coinage of Silver; in the United States Senate, May 12 and 13, 1890 by Jones, John P. (John Percival)