▪ I. agent, ppl. a. and n.
(ˈeɪdʒənt)
[ad. L. agens, agentem, acting, pr. pple. of ag-ĕre to act, do.]
A. adj. Acting, exerting power, as opposed to patient. arch.
| 1620 Melton Astrolog. 13 What a hot fellow Sol (whom all Agent Causes follow). 1678 Cudworth Intellect. Syst. 55 Aristotle..making it [mind] to be twofold, Agent, and Patient, concludes the former of them only to be Immortal. 1821 De Quincey Confess. (1862) 83 Agent or patient, singly or one of a crowd. |
B. n. [The adj. used absol.]
1. a. One who (or that which) acts or exerts power, as distinguished from the patient, and also from the instrument.
| a 1600 Hooker (J.) Deliberation is..needless in regard of the agent, which seeth already what to resolve upon. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World i. 5 For he maketh foure originals, whereof three are agents, and the last passive and materiall. 1646 S. Bolton Arraignm. Errour 295 Nor are we to be meer instruments moved by the will of those in authority..but are morall Agents. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxviii. 118 Our first parents became accountable, because they were free agents. 1809 Tomlins Law Dict., Agent and Patient, when the same person is the doer of a thing, and the party to whom done: as where a woman endows herself of the best part of her husband's possessions. 1870 Bowen Logic xii. 401 In conformity with this view, the distinction between agent and patient, between something which acts and some other thing which is acted upon, is formally abolished. |
b. Telepathy. The person who originates the impression received by the percipient.
| 1882 Proc. Soc. Psychical Research I. 119 In Thought-transference..both parties (whom, for convenience' sake, we will call the Agent and the Percipient) are supposed to be in a normal state. 1886 [see percipient n. b]. 1961 W. H. Salter Zoar xi. 149 Spontaneous cases [of telepathy] do occasionally occur in which no such connection between apparent agent and apparent percipient can be traced. |
2. He who operates in a particular direction, who produces an effect. Of things: The efficient cause.
| 1656 tr. Hobbes's Elem. Philos. (1839) 131 The power of the agent is the same thing with the efficient cause. 1699 Bentley Phalaris 155 When the Samians invaded Zancle, a great Agent in that affair was Hippocrates. 1719 De Foe Crusoe 31, I was still to be the wilful Agent of all my own miseries. 1722 Wollaston Relig. Nat. (1738) v. 83 Nor can I think, that any body has such an idea of chance, as to make it an agent or really existing and acting cause of anything. 1848 Mill Pol. Econ. i. vii. §3 Successful production..depends more on the qualities of the human agents, than on the circumstances in which they work. |
3. a. Hence in mod. Science: Any natural force acting upon matter, any substance the presence of which produces phenomena, whether physical as electricity, chemical as actinism, oxygen, medicinal as chloroform, etc.
| 1756 C. Lucas Ess. on Waters I. 81 Water is a most useful agent in chemistry. 1833 Brewster Nat. Magic xii. 298 The disintegrating and solvent powers of chemical agents. 1875 J. Dawson Dawn of Life vi. 134 The Rhizopods were important agents in the accumulation of beds of limestone. 1880 Geikie Phys. Geog. ii. xi. 100 The winds are the great agents by which the moisture of the atmosphere is distributed over the globe. |
b. Agent Orange [see quot. 19701], a mixture of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T which was used as a defoliant in the Vietnam war; similarly Agent White, etc.
| 1970 New Yorker 7 Feb. 34/1 These went under the names Agent Orange, Agent Purple, Agent White, and Agent Blue—designations derived from color-coded stripes girdling the shipping drums of each type of material. 1970 Sci. Amer. May 22/3 Agent White is a 4:1 mixture of the triisopropanolamine salts of 2,4-D and 4-amino-3,4,6-trichloropicolinic acid. Ibid. 23/1 Agent Blue is a water solution of sodium dimethylarsinate... It is used mainly against rice. 1972 New Scientist 6 Jan. 36/3 It was reported by the Washington Post that more than a million gallons of Agent Orange (the most powerful defoliant used in Vietnam and banned since April, 1970) was being shipped back to the United States... This move still leaves the less toxic Agent White and Agent Blue at the disposal of United States and South Vietnam forces. 1979 Nature 8 Mar. 108/3 Although it was subsequently shown that it was the dioxin contaminant..which was teratogenic and not 2,4,5,-T itself, the Bionetics study led the US Government to withdraw Agent Orange from Vietnam. |
4. a. Of persons: One who does the actual work of anything, as distinguished from the instigator or employer; hence, one who acts for another, a deputy, steward, factor, substitute, representative, or emissary. (In this sense the word has numerous specific applications in Commerce, Politics, Law, etc., flowing directly from the general meaning.)
| a 1593 Marlowe Massacre at Paris iii. iv, Go, call the English agent hither straight. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, i. iii. 165 Being the Agents, or base second meanes. 1607 Topsell Four-footed Beasts (1673) 541 Diocletian..was Agent for the Romans in France. 1642 Howell For. Trav. 78 Made themselves a prey to their sollicitors and Agents. 1704 Lond. Gaz. mmmmxxviii/4 Mr. John Pain, Agent to the Regiment. 1745 Mrs. Delany Lett. 362 Agent, that is, rent-gatherer, to the dean. 1818 Miss Mitford in L'Estrange Life II. xi. 22 He..employed a certain Mr. Crabtree as his agent, steward, etc. 1826 Scott Woodst. (1832) 189 Since the devil fell from Heaven, he never lacked agents on earth. 1847 Craig s.v., In Scots law, an agent is a solicitor for the Court of Session or other courts. 1882 Negot. Instr. Act (India) 40 An agent who signs his name to a promissory note, etc. without indicating thereon that he signs as agent, is liable personally on the instrument. |
b. (In full Indian agent.) An official appointed to represent the government in dealing with an Indian people. U.S.
| 1707 S. Carolina Statutes at Large (1837) II. 311 Thomas Nairne.. is..appointed the agent to reside among the Indians. 1816 Register of Officers & Agents U.S. 62 Indian agents have been allowed from 2 to 8 rations per day in addition to their annual compensation. 1886 Capt. Bell Report in Nation (1888) 15 Mar. 211/1 There can be but one head to an Indian agency, and the agent should be that head, if discipline is to be maintained. 1901 S. E. White Westerners xxxv. 317 He could not recall all the story he had told the Indian agent. |
c. Ellipt. for road-agent (see road n. 12). U.S.
| 1876 Weekly Calaveras Chron. (Mokelumne Hill, Calif.) 29 July 3/1 The driver finally succeeded in satisfying the ‘agent’ that no express box was carried by San Andreas. a 1904 S. E. White Blazed Trail Stories 152 Nex' time I drives stage some of these yere agents massacrees me from behind a bush. |
d. A secret agent; a spy.
| 1932 W. H. Auden Orators iii. 108 The agent clutching his side collapsed at our feet, ‘Sorry! They got me!’ 1946 Ann. Reg. 1945 230 Switzerland..had been full of German agents. 1956 A. H. Compton Atomic Quest ii. 117 Relaying secret information to Russian agents. |
5. Of things: The material cause or instrumentality whereby effects are produced; but implying a rational employer or contriver.
| 1579 W. Fulke Heskins's Parl. 621 The gallowes is no agent or doer in those good thinges. 1591 Shakes. Two Gent. i. iii. 46 Here is her hand, the agent of her heart. 1593 Nashe Christs Teares 21/1 Not a nayle in it [the Crosse] but is a necessary Agent in the Worlds redemption. 1661 Bramhall Just Vind. 43 God doth often good works by ill agents. a 1842 Tennyson Love thou thy Land x, Nature..Thro' many agents making strong, Matures the individual form. 1878 Jevons Prim. Pol. Econ. 26 Whatever thus furnishes us with the first requisite of production is called a natural agent, that is, something which acts for us and assists us. |
6. Comb. and attrib., as agent-noun, agent word, etc.
| 1879 Whitney Sanskr. Gram. 374 There is hardly a suffix by which action-nouns are formed which does not also make agent-nouns or adjectives. Ibid. 385 Adjectives and other agent-words. |
7. Special Comb. agent-general, the official representative of a non-sovereign country or state in the capital city of a sovereign state; spec. a representative of † (a) the British Crown Colonies (also, the Dominion of Canada) in London; (b) an Australian State or Canadian (also, formerly, South African) Province in London; (c) a Canadian Provincial or similar representative in New York and elsewhere.
| 1833 Treasury Minute 26 Mar. (Publ. Rec. Office T 29/339) 711 Altho' Lord Goderich concurs with this Board in the propriety of abolishing the several Agencies for each of these Colonies, his Lordship is of opinion that the duties to be performed..will require that the united agency should consist of two joint agents..instead of one *Agent General. 1845 Return of Names of Agents for Colonies 3/3 in Parl. Papers XXXI. 1 It is the duty of the Agents-General for the Crown Colonies to follow such directions as they may receive from the Governors of the colonies for which they respectively act, as to the conduct of its affairs in England. 1857 Epitome of Debates Legislature S. Austral. 1857–8 8 Sept. 512 Mr Baker asked the Commissioner of Public Works some questions relative to the appointment of an Agent-General and Immigration Agent. 1885 List of Subscribers, Classified (United Telephone Co.) (ed. 6) 72 Consuls, etc...Agent-General for the Cape of Good Hope, 7, Albert Mansions, Victoria Street, S.W. 1902 Encycl. Brit. XXXIII. 395/2 The self-governing Colonies are..represented in London by Agents-general, whose duties are mainly of a commercial nature. 1921 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 26 Mar. 4/1 When the vote for Agent-General's office comes up in the Legislature it is to be hoped that discussion will centre, not so much on the expenditure as on the duties of this London employee of the Government's at this time. 1971 Stand. Encycl. S. Afr. IV. 620/1 When..the Boer republics lost their independence..like the Cape Colony and Natal, they were represented only by an agent-general in London. 1980 Edmonton (Alberta) Jrnl. 20 Mar. c3/6He replaces Herbert Pickering, who has been assigned the new post of agent general for the Pacific Rim in Hong Kong... Mr. Pickering will also be responsible for the direction of the Alberta office in Tokyo. |
▸ Computing. A program that performs a task such as information retrieval or processing on behalf of a client or user, esp. autonomously; spec. one set up to locate information on the Internet on a specified subject and deliver it on a regular basis. Also with distinguishing word.
| 1971 E. E. Harslem-Rand et al. Request for Comments (Network Working Group) (Electronic text) No. 129. 4 Programs will connect to programs, via NCPs. Some of these programs may be multi-access subsystems that are really agents for local consoles (and telnets). 1982 Computerworld 11 Jan. (In Depth Section) 4/1 Some additional near-term uses and markets involve robotics, assessment and planning, forecasting, intelligent agent functions and much more. 1990 ICL Techn. Jrnl. 7 424 This can provide a ‘user agent’ capability so that, for example, the user is informed as soon as he logs in if there is mail waiting for him. 1997 Times 5 Mar. (Interface section) 9/3 The top engines such as Infoseek, Excite and Alta Vista use robot software agents which constantly scour the web looking for, and automatically indexing, this information. 1997 J. Seabrook Deeper i. 39 If..you wanted to keep abreast of articles and discussions about global warming, you could program your agent to search for those keywords. 2001 F. Popcorn & A. Hanft Dict. Future 107 Then there are shopbots—intelligent agents that compare prices—which force sellers to stay ahead of their competitors, or suffer the consequences. |
▪ II. ˈagent, v.
[f. the n.; cf. to pilot.]
To act as agent in; to carry out as agent. So ˈagenting vbl. n., the work or duties of an agent.
| 1637–62 Baillie Lett. & Journ. I. 9 The Duke was carefully solicited to agent this weighty business. 1681 Lond. Gaz. mdcxlix/2 All Writers to the Signet..and other Persons employed in Writing or agenting. 1751 [see extractor 2 b]. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xiii. (1829) 105 I'll employ my ain man o' business, Nichil Novit, to agent Effie's plea. 1924 Galsworthy White Monkey ii. i, A man called Smith..who's done most of the agenting for the German business. 1951 L. Z. Hobson Celebrity (1953) vi. 84 The deal had been ‘agented’ by the author's own brother. |