Retainer
[rɪ'teɪnə] or [rɪ'tenɚ]
Definition
(noun.) a dental appliance that holds teeth (or a prosthesis) in position after orthodontic treatment.
(noun.) a fee charged in advance to retain the services of someone.
Inputed by Angie--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) One who, or that which, retains.
(n.) One who is retained or kept in service; an attendant; an adherent; a hanger-on.
(n.) Hence, a servant, not a domestic, but occasionally attending and wearing his master's livery.
(n.) The act of a client by which he engages a lawyer or counselor to manage his cause.
(n.) The act of withholding what one has in his hands by virtue of some right.
(n.) 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.
(n.) The act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence.
Checked by Angelique
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. [1]. Attendant, adherent, dependant, follower, hanger-on.[2]. Retaining fee.
Checked by Gerald
Examples
- Meantime the retainer goes round, like a gloomy Analytical Chemist: always seeming to say, after 'Chablis, sir? Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- It is eminently respectable, and likewise, in a general way, retainer-like. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- At last he met the chief butler, the sight of which splendid retainer always finished him. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- This fellow was a retainer of the Sheik of Tiberias. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- A fifth retainer, proceeding up the staircase with a mournful air--as who should say, 'Here is another wretched creature come to dinner; such is life! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Thus the melancholy retainer, as who should say, 'Come down and be poisoned, ye unhappy children of men! Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- A stout little retainer came in with chains and led them away, looking very much frightened and evidently forgetting the speech he ought to have made. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- Though they lived at a distance from his house, they were equally dependent upon him as his retainers who lived in it. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Their retainers became consequently less numerous, and, by degrees, dwindled away altogether. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Four pigeon-breasted retainers in plain clothes stand in line in the hall. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- Amidst the vast ruins of the city of Rome half-independent families of quasi-noble adventurers and their retainers maintained themselves. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Unimportant people slept about anywhere as retainers did in the medi?val castles and as people still do in Indian households. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Such local nobles would assemble bands of retainers and build themselves strongholds. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Such a proprietor, as he feeds his servants and retainers at his own house, so he feeds his tenants at their houses. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The occupiers of land were in every respect as dependent upon the great proprietor as his retainers. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Typed by Felix