Retainer

1. A fee paid to engage a lawyer or counselor to maintain a cause, or to prevent his being employed by the opposing party in the case; -- called also retaining fee.
2. One who, or that which, retains.
3. The act of withholding what one has in his hands by virtue of some right.
4. Hence, a servant, not a domestic, but occasionally attending and wearing his master's livery.
5. One who is retained or kept in service; an attendant; an adherent; a hanger-on.
6. The act of a client by which he engages a lawyer or counselor to manage his cause.
7. The act of keeping dependents, or the state of being in dependence.