legman

[ leg-man, -muhn ]

noun

, plural leg·men [leg, -men, -m, uh, n].

1. a person employed to transact business outside an office, especially on behalf of one whose responsibilities require presence in the office.
2. Journalism. a reporter who gathers information by visiting news sources or by being present at news events.

legman

/ ˈlɛɡmən /

noun

1. a newsman who reports on news stories from the scene of action or original source
2. a person employed to run errands, collect information, etc, outside an office

Word History and Origins

Origin of legman¹

1920–25. Americanism; leg + man

Example Sentences

As a young legman, whose job was to file notes to senior reporters, Bernstein was at the White House when Kennedy’s coffin was returned in the early-morning hours after his assassination.

From Washington Post

Since I then covered the tournament for Newsweek and wrote a column elsewhere that appeared only monthly, I had the time to act as his legman.

From Golf Digest

Les Whitten, an investigative reporter whose skill at cultivating government sources and securing secret documents — sometimes through threats or the use of a paid private investigator — made him a top legman of muckraker Jack Anderson and an enemy of President Richard M. Nixon, died Dec. 2 at an assisted-living community in Adelphi, Md. He was 89.

From Washington Post

Together they are history’s detectives, this series’ version of Wheels and the Legman, there to suss out that Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne because he’s a trueborn legitimate Targaryen.

From Salon

“Just about that time, Jean Louise’s brother dropped dead in his tracks one day, and after the nightmare of that was over, Atticus, who had always thought of leaving his practice to his son, looked around for another young man. It was natural for him to engage Henry, and in due course Henry became Atticus’s legman, his eyes, and his hands.”

From New York Times