engrosser

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   historical commerce: a person who buys up a commodity in bulk in order to control its supply or raise its price

   The statute treated any merchant who bought grain merely to resell it at a higher price as an unlawful engrosser.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: a copyist who prepares a formal final version of a legal document in clear, large script

   The parliamentary engrosser prepared the bill for its final reading.

From Middle English engrossen + -er. The commercial sense reflects Anglo-French en gros ('in bulk'): an engrosser acquired large quantities of goods, sometimes to dominate a market. The document-copying sense comes from engross meaning to write out a formal final copy.

Topics