FILIBUSTER

filibuster

(noun) (law) a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches

filibuster, filibusterer

(noun) a legislator who gives long speeches in an effort to delay or obstruct legislation that he (or she) opposes

filibuster

(verb) obstruct deliberately by delaying

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

filibuster (plural filibusters)

A mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.

(US politics) A tactic (such as giving long, often irrelevant speeches) employed to delay the proceedings of, or the making of a decision by, a legislative body, particularly the United States Senate.

(US politics) A member of a legislative body causing such an obstruction; a filibusterer.

Synonyms

• (mercenary soldier): see mercenary

Verb

filibuster (third-person singular simple present filibusters, present participle filibustering, simple past and past participle filibustered)

To take part in a private military action in a foreign country.

(US, politics) To use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body.

Anagrams

• flibustier

Source: Wiktionary

Fil"i*bus`ter, n. Etym: [Sp. flibuster, flibustero, corrupted fr. E. freebooter. See Freebooter.]

Definition: A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855.

Fil"i*bus*ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fillibustered; p. pr. & vb. n. Filibustering.]

1. To act as a filibuster, or military freebooter. Bartlett.

2. To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices. [political cant or slang, U.S.] Bartlett.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition