CARPETBAGGER

carpetbagger

(noun) an outsider who seeks power or success presumptuously; “after the Civil War the carpetbaggers from the north tried to take over the south”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology

Noun

carpetbagger (plural carpetbaggers)

(politics, history, chiefly, US) An immigrant from the Northern to the Southern States after the American Civil War of 1861–5, especially one who went South to gain political influence.

(pejorative, by extension) One who comes to a place or organisation with which they have no previous connection with the sole or primary aim of personal gain, especially political or financial gain.

Source: Wiktionary


Car"pet*bag"ger, n.

Definition: 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.]

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



RESET




Word of the Day

3 April 2025

WHOLE

(noun) an assemblage of parts that is regarded as a single entity; “how big is that part compared to the whole?”; “the team is a unit”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.

coffee icon