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Uncle Sam

 Origin

Uncle Sam

 
noun
a personification of the government or people of the U.S.: represented as a tall, lean man with white chin whiskers, wearing a blue tailcoat, red-and-white-striped trousers, and a top hat with a band of stars.
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Origin:
1805–15, Americanism; extension of the initials U.S.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Uncle Sam is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
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Collins
World English Dictionary
Uncle Sam
 
—n
a personification of the government of the United States
 
[C19: apparently a humorous interpretation of the letters stamped on army supply boxes during the War of 1812: US]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

Uncle Sam
symbol of the United States of America, 1813, coined during the war with Britain as a contrast to John Bull, and no doubt suggested by the initials U.S. "[L]ater statements connecting it with different government officials of the name of Samuel appear to be unfounded" [OED]. The common figure of Uncle
EXPAND
Sam began to appear in political cartoons c.1850. Only gradually superseded earlier Brother Jonathan (1776), largely through the popularization of the figure by cartoonist Thomas Nast. British in World War I sometimes called U.S. soldiers Sammies.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary

Uncle Sam definition


A figure who stands for the government of the United States and for the United States itself. Uncle Sam — whose initials are the abbreviation of United States — is portrayed as an old man with a gray goatee who sports a top hat and Stars and Stripes clothing. During World War I and World War II, posters of Uncle Sam exhorted young men to join the armed forces. (Compare John Bull.)

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

Uncle (Sam) definition


and Uncle Sugar
  1. n.
    the personification of the U.S. : Uncle Sugar wants a little more of your money this year.
  2. n.
    a federal agent; federal agents. : Uncle has some pretty strong ideas about who's in charge of this investigation.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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