bagman

noun

bag·​man ˈbag-mən How to pronounce bagman (audio)
1
chiefly British : traveling salesman
2
: a person who on behalf of another collects or distributes illicitly gained money
broadly : an intermediary in an illicit or unethical transaction

Examples of bagman in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Manton deployed a network of fixers, bagmen, and front men who helped to identify sources of bribes, negotiate the terms, and conceal the proceeds inside a maze of opaque financial arrangements. Time, 25 July 2023 Kathy Griffin’s uncle was a bagman. Los Angeles Times, 9 Aug. 2021 What about Selina’s bagman, Gary? Yvonne Villarreal Staff Writer, Los Angeles Times, 8 Nov. 2020 The episode is gritty (literally — it was shot in the late ’80s and shopped to another network) and follows the mugging and consequential death of a local councilman and erstwhile bagman. Lillian Brown, Vulture, 24 Feb. 2022 The bagman and Li’s brother-in-law pleaded guilty to drug trafficking offenses, while charges against the wife were dropped. Sebastian Rotella, ProPublica, 11 Oct. 2022 As part of an ensemble that pushed political satire to cynical and expletive extremes, Mr. Hale won both his Emmys for playing the bagman to Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s White House bumbler, Selina Meyer. John Jurgensen, WSJ, 29 June 2021 Asked outside court if Pietrzyk was a bagman in the scheme, his attorney, Robert Singer of Williamsville, New York, provided a nuanced answer. Eric D. Lawrence, Detroit Free Press, 22 Oct. 2019 Roberts served as Ike’s financial adviser and executor, and, after Roberts helped arrange his run for President, as his bagman. Nick Paumgarten, The New Yorker, 14 June 2019 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bagman.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1808, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of bagman was in 1808

Dictionary Entries Near bagman

Cite this Entry

“Bagman.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bagman. Accessed 22 Sep. 2023.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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