Rentsmith
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Rentsmith
/rɛntsmɪθ/ (n.)
(also rentsmithing, rentsmithery)
1. (derogatory) A rent-seeking legal eagle. One who justifies one’s place in the room by wordsmithing things which are fine as they are, especially if doing do makes things worse than they were (hence, an “iatrogenicist”.)
Ay, that’s a confi indeed, for he doth nothing but
talk of his indemnities; and he makes it a great
appropriation to his own good parts, that he can
injunct himself. I am much afear’d, my lady, his
mother played false with a rentsmith.
- —Shakespeare, The Merchant of Tennis, I,ii
2. (v) To act as a rentsmith. To peddle celery.