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Glite Dictionary
legman

legman

1 8.5
A person who does field tasks and gathers information for someone else
  • noun
  • /ˈlɛɡˌmæn/
  • Jargon
translation icon : colaborador

Examples

  • At the station I met the legman supposed to take me to the General.

    Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (2011)

  • As a legman, he was responsible for gathering information from the field for the reporter.

  • The newspaper assigned a legman to investigate leads on the breaking story.

  • Every successful journalist needs a reliable legman to help them cover their assignments.

Synonyms

fieldworker
vslegman
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A person who studies people, animals, or plants where they live

works on practical tasks gathering information for someone else

Surface Forms

legman singular
legmen plural

Morphology

legman = leg + man (semi-transparent) = leg + man

The components 'leg' + 'man' are clear, but the sense 'person who does legwork/field tasks (often for a reporter)' is somewhat idiomatic and specialized.

Etymology

Legman comes from the simple idea of doing the walking, with leg meaning the body part or 'to walk' and man meaning a person, just like someone who does the legwork for a reporter. So a legman today is a helper who goes out to collect facts, run errands, or do fieldwork for someone else.