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Whig Definition

Whig (hwig, wig)

noun

  1. a member of a political party in England (fl. 18th to mid-19th cent.) which championed reform and parliamentary rights: it later became the Liberal Party
  2. ☆ in the American Revolution, a person who opposed continued allegiance to Great Britain and supported the Revolution
  3. ☆ a member of an American political party (c. 1834-56) opposing the Democratic Party and advocating protection of industry and limitation of the power of the executive branch of government
  4. one who propounds or subscribes to a Whig interpretation of history

Etymology: shortened form of whiggamore (applied to Scot Covenanters who marched on Edinburgh in 1648), an erratic form of Scot whiggamaire < whig, a cry to urge on horses + mare, horse

adjective

  1. of or characteristic of Whigs
  2. of or designating historical interpretation which finds in events an uninterrupted line of progress against reactionary forces and often regards the present as a natural and inevitable result of the past

Whig Related Forms
Whig·gish adjective
Whig Quotes

Come, gie's a sang, Montgomery cry'd, And lay your disputes a'aside; What signifies't for folks to chide For what's been done before them? Let Whig and Torya'agree, Whig and Tory,Whig and Tory, Whig and Tory a'agree To drop their whigmigmorum; Let Whig and Torya'agree To spend this night wi'mirth and glee, And cheerfu'sing, alang wi'me, The Reel o' Tullochgorum.

—Skinner,John

I am neither a Whig nor aTory. My politics are described in one word, and that word is England.

—Disraeli, Benjamin, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

A wiseToryand a wise Whig, I believe, will agree. Their principles are the same, though their modes of thinking are different.

—Johnson, Samuel known as Dr Johnson

Browse dictionary entries near Whig

  1. whiffletree
  2. whiffler
  3. whiffle ball
  4. whiffle
  5. whiffet
  6. whiff
  7. whidah (bird)
  8. whid
  9. whicker
  10. whichsoever
  1. Whiggery
  2. whigmaleerie
  3. while
  4. whiles
  5. whilom
  6. whilst
  7. whim
  8. whim-wham
  9. whimbrel
  10. whimper