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Bolshevik - 3 dictionary results

Bol⋅she⋅vik

  [bohl-shuh-vik, bol-; Russ. buhl-shi-vyeek]
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–noun, plural -viks, -vik⋅i  [-vik-ee, -vee-kee; Russ. -vyi-kyee] .
1. (in Russia)
a. a member of the more radical majority of the Social Democratic party, 1903–17, advocating immediate and forceful seizure of power by the proletariat.
b. (after 1918) a member of the Russian Communist party.
2. (loosely) a member of any Communist party.
3. Disparaging. an extreme political radical; revolutionary or anarchist.
Also, bol⋅she⋅vik.

Origin:
1915–20; < Russ bolʾshevík, equiv. to bólʾsh(iĭ) larger, greater (comp. of bolʾshóĭ large; cf. bolʾshinstvó majority) + -evik, var. of -ovik n. suffix; cf. Menshevik
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Bol·she·vik   (bōl'shə-vĭk', bŏl'-)   
n.   pl. Bol·she·viks or Bol·she·vi·ki (-vē'kē) In all senses also called Bolshevist.
    1. A member of the left-wing majority group of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party that adopted Lenin's theses on party organization in 1903.
    2. A member of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party that seized power in that country in November 1917.
    3. A member of a Marxist-Leninist party or a supporter of one; a Communist.
  2. often bolshevik An extreme radical: a literary bolshevik.

[Russian Bol'shevik, from bol'she, comparative of bol'shoĭ, large; see bel- in Indo-European roots.]
Bol'she·vik' adj.
Word History: The word Bolshevik, an emotionally charged term in English, is derived from an ordinary word in Russian, bol'she, "bigger, more," the comparative form of bol'shoĭ, "big." The plural form Bol'sheviki was the name given to the majority faction at the Second Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party in 1903 (the term is first recorded in English in 1907). The smaller faction was known as Men'sheviki, from men'she, "less, smaller," the comparative of malyĭ, "little, few." The Bol'sheviki, who sided with Lenin in the split that followed the Congress, subsequently became the Russian Communist Party. In 1952 the word Bol'shevik was dropped as an official term in the Soviet Union, but it had long since passed into other languages, including English.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bolshevik 
1917, from Rus. bol'shiy "greater," comp. of adj. bol'shoy "big, great" (cf. Bolshoi Ballet), from O.C.S. boljiji "larger," from PIE base *bel- "strong" (cf. Skt. balam "strength, force," Gk. beltion "better," Phrygian balaios "big, fast," O.Ir. odbal "strong," Welsh balch "proud;" M.Du., Low Ger., Fris. pal "strong, firm"). It was the faction of Russian Social Democratic Worker's Party after a split in 1903 that was either larger or more extreme (or both) than the Mensheviks (from Rus. men'shij "less"); after they seized power in 1917, applied generally to Rus. communists.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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