Meaning of legman | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A surname.
2. A person hired to carry out errands or (often) menial tasks, frequently requiring travel from place to place; an errand boy or errand girl, a runner.
3. A reporter who frequently travels to conduct research, interview witnesses, etc., and then conveys the information to a rewriteman who writes up the story.

Equivalents

Examples

“During the nine-month Great Lakes shipping season, the ore hogs—shovelers, "larry" car weighers, bulldozer operators, car pushers and "leg" men—unite⟳ in this miracle of supply⟳ that stock-piles enough iron⟳ ore to last⟳ through the winter. The leg man on a Hulett iron-ore unloader must possess⟳ a special blend of brawn, brains and a "go for broke" attitude. He must also be conscious of the safety of fellow workers below him as he deftly maneuvers a 75-ton vertical ramrod and iron-jawed grab⟳ bucket.”

“[W]ell, anyway, he sent a chap who acts as his confidential ‘leg-man’ and ‘Man Friday’.”

“Guillam was boss and legman, and twice a day he dropped the tapes on the Berne residency, using a parked car as a letter-box.”

“A large ship was discharging LASH (lighter aboard ship) barges at its aft end⟳. [...] The crane broke down and a repairman was called. One legman descended from his post⟳ on a small raised platform to the deck next to the crane. Once repaired, the crane operator sounded a warning siren. Thinking all was clear, he started the crane toward the aft. The legman next to the crane ran aft and attempted to climb⟳ a small ladder next to his post⟳. He was caught between the ladder and the crane, suffering multiple injuries.”

“Once in Hollywood he [Andrew J. Fenady] became a legman for Paul Coates, which led to writing and producing Coates' controversial television series, Confidential File⟳, winner of three Emmy awards.”

“He [Walter Lippmann] studied at Harvard with [George] Santayana, took tea with William James, worked as a legman for Lincoln Steffens, debated socialism with [George] Bernard Shaw and H. G. Wells, was in Belgium when the Germans invaded and at the House of Commons when Britain declared war in 1914.”

“Their targets included kings and commoners, civilians and soldiers, military recruits and senior commanders, political legmen and party chairmen, businessmen and academicians, journalists and belletrists—and ultimately a train⟳ of victims' families: husbands, wives, and children.”

“[page 136] This was my abrupt introduction to the system by which most of the live⟳ news is handled for the New York evening newspapers [...] Its continued use⟳ has bred up two distinct and separate⟳ types of news-specialists—the leg man, who gets the story, but rarely writes it; and the rewrite⟳ man, who writes the story but rarely gets it. [...] [page 140] City editors rail against these news combines, but it was the instinct of self-preservation that long ago drove the leg men into tight and fast organizations.”

“Morris Cramm was night legman for a columnist and worked from seven in the evening to five in the morning.”

“The guy looked and acted like⟳ a cheap hood when he was the head legman for one of the biggest of the syndicated columnists.”

“Many of the changes which have⟳ taken place⟳ in the newspaper field within the last⟳ fifty years have⟳ been in the direction of specialization. At the turn⟳ of the century, for example, a reporter got his stories, wrote them, and sometimes even made up his own⟳ headlines. Legmen and rewrite⟳ men were practically unknown.”

“LEG MEN cover⟳ local events and phone the information to a rewrite⟳ man. The leg man must have⟳ a good nose for news and the ability to give⟳ information over the phone quickly and accurately. He seldom writes his own⟳ stories.”

“They all said, "What can you expect⟳ when you put⟳ a leg-man into a spot like⟳ that?" and "How can a youngster like⟳ that, with only a year's experience⟳ in the newspaper business behind him, handle⟳ that sort⟳ of an assignment?" [...]”

“Of course newspapers have⟳ to have⟳ "leg men," especially for afternoon editions, who seldom write⟳ their own⟳ stories but have⟳ to telephone in facts to be hurried into type⟳ for press⟳ time. But leg men nowadays are expected to be literate, though sometimes barely.”

“[Allen] Raymond was the son of a Methodist lay⟳ preacher who traded his Ivy League, New England pedigree for a hardboiled journalistic persona cultivated over decades as a "legman," rewrite⟳ man, copyeditor, and reporter for a dozen urban newspapers, mostly in metropolitan New York.”

CEFR level