How do you research the usage of a word?

[septimus]

I was also taken aback when I first encountered that use of ‘agency.’ I asked at SDMB and got this response:

@LSLGuy

Used in that sense it’s pretty much a term of art just for lawyers & philosophers. But it’s a commonly-used term by both those groups.

You’re reading a lot here written by folks who are either actual or armchair lawyers & philosophers.