broker
UK /ˈbɹəʊkə/ · US /ˈbɹoʊkɚ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of broke
Forms brokers brokering brokered
- noun A mediator between a buyer and seller.
- noun A stockbroker.
- noun A mediator in general, one who liaises between two or more parties to attempt to achieve an outcome of some kind.
- noun (computing) An agent involved in the exchange of messages or transactions.
- verb (intransitive) To act as a broker; to mediate in a sale or transaction.
- verb (transitive) To act as a broker in; to bring about through brokering or negotiation; to arrange or negotiate.
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English broker, brokour, brocour, from Anglo-Norman brocour (“small trader”) (compare also abroker (“to act as a broker”)), from Old Dutch *brokere (“one who determines the usages of trade, manager”), from broke, bruyck, breuck (“use, usage, trade”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūkī (“use, custom”), from Proto-Germanic *brūkiz (“use, custom”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to use, enjoy”), equivalent to brook + -er.
Cognate with Middle Low German brukere (“a broker”), Danish bruger (“a broker, user, handler”), Swedish bruk (“use, custom, trade, business”), Old English broc (“use, profit, advantage, foredeal”). Compare also French brocanter (“to deal in second-hand goods”) from the same Germanic source. More at brook.
From broke + -er.
Webster’s 1913
- noun One who transacts business for another; an agent.
- noun An agent employed to effect bargains and contracts, as a middleman or negotiator, between other persons, for a compensation commonly called brokerage. He takes no possession, as broker, of the subject matter of the negotiation. He generally contracts in the names of those who employ him, and not in his own. Story.
Etymology [OE. brocour, from a word akin to broken, bruken, to use, enjoy, possess, digest, fr. AS. br to use, enjoy; cf. Fries. broker, F. brocanteur. See Brook, v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “broker”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details