Word Origin Atlas

Exact historical dictionary sense

Agency in Webster's 1913 dictionary

The 1913 record labels agency as noun. Its source-bounded etymology and selected historical definition appear below.

WEBSTER 1913noun
Agency

[agentia, fr. L. agens, agentis: cf. F. agence. See Agent.]

Cross-verified historical sense
The source text may be outdated. The page preserves that historical boundary.
Cross-verified 1913 record
Headwordagency
Part of speechnoun
Historical etymology[agentia, fr. L. agens, agentis: cf. F. agence. See Agent.]
Selected historical definitionThe faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality.
Signed record IDwebster1913-agency-noun-b1cc4e86a99d
Source locatorCIDE.A, paragraph 4454; Gutenberg eBook 660
Edition-scoped answerNot earliest-attestation proofNot modern consensus
Independent historical textProject Gutenberg section 660Signed structural record sourceGNU GCIDE 0.54 archive
Quick answer

In Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), "agency" is labeled noun. Its etymology is recorded as: "[agentia, fr. L. agens, agentis: cf. F. agence. See Agent.]" The selected historical definition says: "The faculty of acting or of exerting power; the state of being in action; action; instrumentality."

Project Gutenberg Webster 1913 plus signed GNU GCIDE 0.54 Exact cross-verified historical record reviewed 2026-10-04

What this answer proves

One named sense in one historical dictionary edition.

The answer reports the selected headword, part of speech, etymology, definition, and source locator as transcribed in the cross-verified 1913 record.

Evidence boundaryIt does not establish the earliest attestation or a complete borrowing chain.It does not claim current scholarly consensus or a modern dictionary definition.Historical dictionary text may be obsolete, incomplete, inaccurate, or offensive by modern standards.

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