RETAINER

noun one who, or that which, retains.

2. retainer ·noun the act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence.

3. retainer ·noun the act of withholding what one has in his hands by virtue of some right.

4. retainer ·noun one who is retained or kept in service; an attendant; an adherent; a hanger-on.

5. retainer ·noun the act of a client by which he engages a lawyer or counselor to manage his cause.

6. retainer ·noun hence, a servant, not a domestic, but occasionally attending and wearing his master's livery.

7. retainer ·noun 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.