rare. [f. prec. sb.]
a. intr. To act as a factor or agent. In quot. fig. b. trans. To deal with (goods, money, etc.) as a factor; in Birmingham and Sheffield use, to procure goods as a factor does (see prec. ).
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. ix. § 70. 527. The Pope … had his pipes and conducts to cunuay this stench into this land, and the wealth of it backe in lieu thereof. Which was now so factoured by his Chaplaine Martin, that, etc.
1621. S. Ward, Happiness of Practice, 44. Send your Prayers and good Workes to factor there for you.
1692. [see below].
Mod. (Sheffield), He manufactures a few articles, and factors the rest.
Hence Factored ppl. a., Factoring vbl. sb. and ppl. a.
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VIII. xlvi. A carrion crow he is … the devil’s factoring knave.
1692. Settle, Triumphs Lond., Ded. Chaffering or Factoring have been thought so unnecessary Preliminaries in dealing with Sir John Fleet, that [etc.].
1883. Birm. Daily Post, 11 Oct. The Hardware Factoring Business.
1886. John Macdona, Birmingham, in The Nineteenth Century, Aug., 244. Large quantities of the finest and costliest articles sold under other local designations in London and all over the world are the ‘factored’ work of Birmingham craftsmen.
