RETAINER

retainer. Retainer, n. a dependent, servant, previous fee

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Re‐tain″er (?), n. 1. 1. One who, or that which, retains.
2. 2. One who is retained or kept in service; an attendant; an adherent; a hanger-on.
3. 3. Hence, a servant, not a domestic, but occasionally attending and wearing his master's livery. Cowell.
4. 4. (Law) (a) The act of a client by which he engages a lawyer or counselor to manage his cause. (b) The act of withholding what one has in his hands by virtue of some right. (c) A fee paid to engage a lawyer or counselor to maintain a cause, or to prevent his being employed by the opposing party in the case; — called also retaining fee. Bouvier. Blackstone.
5. 5. The act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence. Bacon.