- a Republican who refused to support the party ticket in 1884
- any independent, esp. in politics
Origin of mugwump
Algonquian mugquomp, chiefmugwump
mug·wumpWebster's New World College Dictionary, Fifth Edition Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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"mugwump." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump>.
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mugwump. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump
mugwump
noun
- A person who acts independently or remains neutral, especially in politics.
- often Mugwump A Republican who bolted the party in 1884, refusing to support presidential candidate James G. Blaine.
Origin of mugwump
Massachusett mugguomp, mummugguomp war leaderRelated Forms:
- mug′wump′er·y
noun
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, FIFTH EDITION by the Editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries. Copyright © 2016, 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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MLA Style
"mugwump." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump>.
APA Style
mugwump. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump
Noun
(plural mugwumps)
- (US) An independent neutral politician, especially in reference to the 1884 U.S. presidential election.
- (colloquial) An aloof or inconsequential person.
Origin
From an Algonquian term, probably Massachusett mugquomp (“important (male) person").
Folk etymology reinterpreted it as referring to a person who sat on the fence with mug ("face") one one side and wump ("rump") on the other, which influenced political cartoons during the 1884 U.S. presidential election.
English Wiktionary. Available under CC-BY-SA license.
Link to this page
Cite this page
MLA Style
"mugwump." YourDictionary, n.d. Web. 14 January 2019. <https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump>.
APA Style
mugwump. (n.d.). Retrieved January 14th, 2019, from https://www.yourdictionary.com/mugwump
