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1862, Brigham Young, “Call for Teams to Go to the Frontiers, etc.”, in Journal of Discourses, volume 9:
Seeing we are so wonderfully endowed with priceless gifts by our Heavenly Father, will he not require usury at our hands? He will. But he has made us agents to ourselves, which makes us responsible for the way in which we use the talents he has given us, for the manner we expend the gold and silver, the wheat and fine flour, the cattle upon a thousand hills, and the wine and oil, for they all belong to Him
One who acts for, or in the place of, another (the principal), by that person's authority; someone entrusted to act on behalf of or in behalf of another, such as to transact business for them.
I see in him [Moby Dick] outrageous strength, with an inscrutable malice sinewing it. That inscrutable thing is chiefly what I hate; and be the white whale agent, or be the white whale principal, I will wreak that hate upon him.
A person who looks for work for another person and brokers a deal between the hiree and hirer.
Ronald Koeman has agreed a deal with Everton to become their new manager, his agent has reportedly told Dutch media. The agent Rob Jansen said, according to the popular Voetbal International website, that it was now down to Southampton and Everton to agree a compensation package for the Dutchman, who has a year remaining on his contract at St Mary’s.
An active power or cause or substance; something (e.g. biological, chemical, thermal, etc.) that has the power to produce an effect.
1807, James Edward Smith, chapter 11, in An introduction to physiological and systematical botany:
So far seems to be the work of chemistry alone; at least we have no right to conclude that any other agent interferes; since hay, when it happens to imbibe moisture, exhibits nearly the same processes."
(computing) In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server. Especially in the phrase “intelligent agent” it implies some kind of autonomous process which can communicate with other agents to perform some collective task on behalf of one or more humans.
(grammar) The participant of a situation that carries out the action in this situation, e.g. "the boy" in the sentences "The boy kicked the ball" and "The ball was kicked by the boy".
2009, Tarsee Li, The Verbal System of the Aramaic of Daniel: An Explanation in the Context of Grammaticalization, page 58:
A verb is typically described as active when its subject is the agent or actor. By contrast, a verb is said to be passive when the subject does not perform the action, but is the patient, target, or undergoer of the action.
1978, John Scarne, Scarne's guide to casino gambling, page 108:
Nevada casinos are fleeced out of millions of dollars yearly by agents (cheats acting as players) in collusion with crooked Black Jack dealers and pit bosses.
akta/teczka agenta ― an agent's briefcase/file/folder/portfolio/suitcase/dossier
robota/praca agenta ― an agent's work
agent wywiadu ― an intelligence agent
agent kontrwywiadu ― a counterintelligence agent
agent wpływu ― an agent of influence
szukać agenta ― to look for an agent
tropić agentów ― to track agents
ujawniać/ujawnić agentów ― to expose an agent
zrobić agenta z kogoś ― to make an agent (out) of something
(a representative):
za pośrednictwem agentów ― by an agent
imperialistyczny agent ― an imperialist agent
podstawiony agent ― a substitute agent
płatny agent ― a paid agent
długoletni agent ― a long-term agent
emerytowany agent ― a retired agent
dawny agent ― a former agent
cenny agent ― a valued agent
policyjny agent ― a police agent
wyszkolony agent ― a trained agent
obcy/zagraniczny agent ― a foreign agent
doświadczony agent ― an experienced agent
dzielny agent ― a brave agent
komunistyczny agent ― a communist agent
specjalny agent ― a special agent
cywilny agent ― a civil agent
czołowy agent ― a head/lead agent
najważniejszy agent ― the most important agent
słynny agent ― a famous agent
miejscowy agent ― a local agent
najlepszy agent ― the best agent
nowy agent ― a new agent
dobry agent ― a good agent
agent ubezpieczeniowy ― an insurance agent
agent imperialistyczny ― an imperialist agent
agent federalny ― a federal agent
agent celny ― a customs agent
agent transferowy ― a transfer agent
agent pracujący gdzieś ― an agent working somewhere
agent ulokowany gdzieś ― an agent located somewhere
agent policyjny ― a police agent
agent dyplomatyczny ― a diplomatic agent
agent reklamowy ― an advertising agent
agent handlowy ― a trade agent
agent turystyczny ― a tourist agent
agent operacyjny ― an operative agent
agent filmowy ― a film agent
agent rządowy ― a government agent
meldunek agenta ― agent check-in
siatka/sieć agentów ― a network of agent
grupa agentów ― a group of agent
raport agenta ― an agent's report
sprawa agentów ― an agents' case/matter/issue
zdanie agenta ― an agent's task
zachowanie agenta ― an agent's behavior
agent bezpieki ― a secret police agent
agent gestapo ― a gestapo agent
agent imperializmu ― an agent of imperialism
agent policji ― a police agent
agent ochrony ― a defence agent
agent nieruchomości ― a real-estate agent
agent biura ― an office agent
agent wroga ― an agent of the enemy
agent szatana ― an agent of Satan
agent rządu ― a government agent
agent handlu ― a trade agent
agent bezpieczeństwa ― a security agent
werbować agenta ― to recruit an agent
przekazać agentowi ― to communicate/pass along (something) to an agent
agenci rządzą ― agents operate/run (something)
agent sprawdza ― an agent checks something
References
^ Mirosław Bańko, Lidia Wiśniakowska (2021) “agent”, in Wielki słownik wyrazów obcych, →ISBN
^ Bańkowski, Andrzej (2000) “agent”, in Etymologiczny słownik języka polskiego [Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language] (in Polish)
↑ 3.03.1Teresa Sokołowska (21.05.2009) “AGENT”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century]
Further reading
agent in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN