Search the Dictionary

Moral or political duty or obligation. I love your majesty According to my bond, nor more nor less. Shak.

Money given in payment for votes or political influence; bribe money; swag. [Polit. slang, U. S.]

colloquially or humorously to market prices, the demand for stocks or commodities and to political chances of aspirants to office; as, a boom in the stock market; a boom in coffee. [Colloq. U. S.]

A master workman or superintendent; a director or manager; a political dictator. [Slang, U. S.]

The rule or practices of bosses, esp. political bosses. [Slang, U. S.]

The spirit or principles of a French political movement identified with Gen. Georges Boulanger (d. 1891), whose militarism and advocacy of revenge on Germany attracted to him a miscellaneous party of monarchists and Republican malcontents. -- Bou*lan"gist (#), n.

A politician who is behind the age; a ruler or politician who neither forgets nor learns anything; an obstinate conservative.

The act or practice of giving or taking bribes; the act of influencing the official or political action of another by corrupt inducements. Bribery oath, an oath taken by a person that he has not been bribed as to voting. [Eng.]

One of a race inhabiting the valleys of the Pyrenees, who until 1793 were political and social outcasts (Christian Pariahs). They are supposed to be a remnant of the Visigoths.

ns which they believed contrary to the kingdom of Christ, but who now avail themselves of political rights.

cret organization formed at Naples, Italy, early in the 19th century, and used partly for political ends and partly for practicing extortion, violence, etc. -- Ca*mor"rist (#), n.

Political operations preceding an election; a canvass. [Cant, U. S.]

Chief, in a political sense, as being the seat of the general government of a state or nation; as, Washington and Paris are capital cities.

A member of a secret political association in Italy, organized in the early part of the nineteenth centry for the purpose of changing the government into a republic.

An adventurer; -- a term of contempt for a Northern man seeking private gain or political advancement in the southern part of the United States after the Civil War (1865). [U. S.]

A stoke, touch, or trick. [Obs.] This was a cast of Wood's politics; for his information was wholly false. Swift.

The science of exchanges, a branch of political economy.

A word or phrase caught up and repeated for effect; as, the catchword of a political party, etc.

delegates to a nominating convention, or to confer regarding measures of party policy; a political primary meeting. This day learned that the caucus club meets, at certain times, in the garret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston regiment. John Adams's Diary [Feb. , 1763].

The principles of a political party in England (1838-48), which contended for universal suffrage, the vote by ballot, annual parliaments, equal electoral districts, and other radical reforms, as set forth in a document called the People's Charter.