procuration

English

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English procuracioun, from Middle French procuration and its etymon Latin prōcūrātiōnem (through Old French procuracion). By surface analysis, procure +‎ -ation; compare procuracy and procuratory.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɒkjʊˈɹeɪʃən/, /ˌpɹɒkjəˈɹeɪʃən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpɹɑkjəˈɹeɪʃən/

Noun

procuration (countable and uncountable, plural procurations)

1. The act of procuring; procurement.
   • 1622, Francis, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban [i.e. Francis Bacon], The Historie of the Raigne of King Henry the Seventh, […], London: […] W[illiam] Stansby for Matthew Lownes, and William Barret, →OCLC:

     For she was not only publicly contracted, but stated as a bride, and solemnly bedded, and after she was laid, there came in Maximilian's ambassador with letters of procuration

   • 1898, Arthur Henry Patterson, “Some Notes on the Stalk-eyed Crustacea of Great Yarmouth”, in The Zoologist:

     […] Mr. Liffen, an intelligent local shrimper, who has been particularly helpful in the procuration of specimens both of Crustacea and Fish.

2. The management of another's affairs.
3. (law) The instrument by which someone is empowered to transact another's affairs; a proxy.
   • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:

     it was true he had registered my will, and put in his claim; and could he have given any account of my being dead or alive, he would have acted by procuration, and taken possession of the ingenio (so they call the sugar-house), and have given his son, who was now at the Brazils, orders to do it.

   • 1816, William Johnson, The Venus Jademerowsky:

     It consisted of invoices of the cargo; bills of lading; accounts of sale; accounts of disbursements; the original correspondence between the claimant and Mr. Jones, his agent in London; and the original procuration from the claimant to Mr. Jones, recited in the power given from the latter to Diamond, the supercargo, one of the original papers found on board

   • 1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, “… Gondremark is in My Lady’s Chamber”, in Prince Otto: A Romance, London: Chatto and Windus, […], →OCLC, book II (Of Love and Politics), page 116:

     What are these papers about? O, I see. […] Well, you can sign them; you have the procuration.

4. A document giving someone such power
   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC:

     Here we finished our matters of money, and I delivered into his hands seven thousand eight hundred pistoles in bills and money, a copy of an assignment on the townhouse of Paris for four thousand pistoles, at 3 per cent, interest, attested, and a procuration for receiving the interest half-yearly; but the original I kept myself.

5. A sum of money formerly paid to the bishop, archbishop, or archdeacon, by an incumbent, as a commutation for entertainment at the time of visit; called also proxy.
   • 1563 March 30 (Gregorian calendar), John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], →OCLC:

     Master John Huss, formed bachelor of divinity; by the commission of whose procuration, it is evident enough, unto me, the public notary within written, that he, knocking at the porch or gate of the archbishop's court aforesaid, required that either the said Master John Huss, or that he, in the name and behalf of Master John Huss his master, might be suffered to come into the said archbishop's court, to the presence of the said lord archbishop and the prelates who were there congregated together

6. Pimping.
   • 1913, E. Belfort Bax, The Fraud of Feminism, Chapter 3:

     Procuration and also living on the proceeds of prostitution may be morally abominable methods of securing a livelihood, though even here, as in most other offences, there may be circumstances of palliation in individual cases.

Related terms

• procurator
• procure

Translations

act of procuring

• Spanish: procuración f

References

• “procuration”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French procuration, from Old French procuracion, from Latin prōcūrātiōnem; by surface analysis, procurer +‎ -ation.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pʁɔ.ky.ʁa.sjɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

procuration f (plural procurations)

1. proxy
2. power of attorney
   • 1857, Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary […]‎^[1], Paris: Michel Lévy Frères:

     — Je vous remercie, dit la vieille femme. Et elle jeta dans le feu la procuration.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “procuration”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012