leg-man

A leg-man gathers information for the newspaper's story.

Definition

1. Noun (countable):
   • A journalist or reporter who gathers news or information by traveling to different locations: A "leg-man" is someone who collects facts, interviews sources, or obtains material from outside the office, often for a news organization or research team.
   • A person who runs errands or performs tasks that require physical movement: In a broader sense, a "leg-man" is an assistant or subordinate who does fieldwork, such as delivering documents, making purchases, or handling logistics, as opposed to desk work.

Usage Examples

• Journalism sense:

  • The newspaper sent a leg-man to the crime scene to gather eyewitness accounts. (A reporter who physically went to the location to collect information.)
  • She worked as a leg-man for the magazine, interviewing politicians and attending events. (A field reporter who gathered news outside the office.)

• Errand sense:

  • The office manager asked the intern to act as a leg-man, picking up supplies and delivering packages. (An assistant who performs physical tasks and errands.)
  • He was the leg-man for the legal team, running documents between the courthouse and the law firm. (A person who transports items or performs errands.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be someone's leg-man": to serve as an assistant who handles physical or external tasks for a more senior person.

  • The detective's leg-man gathered witness statements while the detective analyzed evidence. (The assistant did the fieldwork.)

• "leg-work" (related noun): the physical or traveling part of a job, often done by a leg-man.

  • Most of the leg-work was done by the junior staff. (The traveling and collecting of information was done by subordinates.)

Variants and Related Words

• Legwork (noun): the physical effort or travel required to accomplish a task, especially in journalism or investigation.

  • The reporter did the legwork, visiting multiple neighborhoods for the story. (The traveling and physical effort.)

• Leg-man (noun, alternative spelling): sometimes written as "legman" (one word) with the same meaning.

  • He was a reliable legman for the bureau. (A field reporter or assistant.)

Synonyms

• Reporter (for the journalism sense): a person who writes news stories.
• Runner (for the errand sense): a person who delivers messages or runs errands.
• Fieldworker: someone who works outside an office, collecting data or performing tasks.
• Assistant: a person who helps with tasks, often physical or logistical.

Idioms and Phrasal Verbs

• "leg it" (phrasal verb, informal): to run or travel quickly, often on foot.

  • We had to leg it to the next appointment. (We had to run or travel quickly.)

• "on one's last legs" (idiom): very tired or near failure.

  • After a day of being a leg-man, he was on his last legs. (Extremely exhausted due to physical work.)