mugwump
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈmʌɡwʌmp/
ipa: /ˈmʌɡˌwʌmp/
ipa: [ˈməɡˌwəmp]
Forms: form: mugwumps
Etymology: The noun is borrowed from Massachusett mugquomp, mummugquomp (“war leader”). Folk etymology reinterpreted it as referring to a person who sat on the fence with their mug (“face”) on one side and wump (“rump”) on the other, which influenced political cartoons during the 1884 United States presidential election.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: synonyms: word: baron
word: big cheese
word: big enchilada
word: big gun
word: big kahuna
word: big man
word: big name
word: big noise
word: big shot
word: bigwig
word: big wheel
word: boss
word: grand poobah
word: head honcho
word: heavy hitter
word: heavyweight
word: high muckamuck
word: high muckety-muck
word: king of all one surveys
word: king of the castle
word: king of the hill
word: kingpin
word: macher
word: mayor
word: muckamuck
word: muckety muck
word: mugwump
word: numero uno
word: poobah
word: rooster
word: somebody
word: top banana
word: top cat
word: top dog
word: top gun
word: very important person
word: VIP
word: wheel
antonyms: word: important person
word: big cheese
word: big hitter
word: big wheel
word: somebody
glosses: A (male) leader; an important (male) person.
topics: government
politics
glosses: A member of the Republican Party who declined to support the party's nominee James G. Blaine (1830–1893) during the 1884 United States presidential election, believing him to be corrupt, and instead supported the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).
examples: text: The story of the capture of Vicksburg is the old, old story of failure turned into success, by which man is made immortal. It involves the history of a general who never retraced his steps, who cared neither for mugwump murmurs nor political cabals, who took both blame and praise with equanimity.
ref: 1901 May, Winston Churchill, “A Strange Meeting”, in The Crisis, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, book III, page 427:
text: After them came the politician, who said there was only one purpose in Nature, and that was to get him into parliament. I told him I did not care whether he got into parliament or not; so he called me Mugwump and went his way.
ref: 1901–1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, Act III, page 116:
topics: government
politics
glosses: A person who purports to stay aloof from party politics.
topics: government
politics
glosses: One who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit.
examples: text: Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke [...] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.
ref: 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court: A McLean Mystery, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:
glosses: A person who stays neutral or non-committal; a fence sitter; also, a person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour.
glosses: A foolish person.
Derived terms: mugwumpery
mugwumpian
mugwumpish
mugwumpism