The phrase "as a retainer" is grammatically correct and can be used in written English.
It is typically used to describe a person that is hired to perform services on an ongoing basis. For example, "The company hired Jack as a retainer to handle their monthly accounting."
Chris can't raise the $25,000 fee Joe demands, so instead he offers him Dottie as a "retainer".
Chris can't pay him up front, but they come to an alternative agreement: Joe can have Dottie as a retainer.
I have teased Coyne and sent him $50 as a retainer to make sure I am not forgotten.
A FTSE 100 company in Britain will typically pay its main PR firm £100,000-150,000 a year as a retainer.
According to tradition he served as a retainer to the shogun Ashikaga Yoshihisa and became a monk after Yoshihisa's death in 1489.
Mr. Giuliani also referred to the payment as a "retainer". The statement contradicted what Mr. Cohen said about using his own money to pay Ms. Clifford.
The New York audience included plenty of skeptics who said that Invisalign would make sense for only a small percentage of their patients, many of whom might fare just as well with a retainer, which is far cheaper.
More common types of retainer defined by the court included the classic retainer (also known as a true retainer) and the security retainer.
Today's young people are expected to start making decisions about their life purpose at about the same time as choosing a retainer color.
As Qaddafi settles in, a retainer quietly comes forward to hand him a homemade fly whisk, several sprigs of rosemary held together by a crumpled sheet of aluminum foil.
Dastagir travelled to India from Los Angeles, stayed in a hotel in Mumbai (then known as Bombay) and received a retainer.
