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carpetbagger - 3 dictionary results

car⋅pet⋅bag⋅ger

  [kahr-pit-bag-er]
Use carpetbagger in a Sentence
–noun
1. U.S. History. a Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War and became active in Republican politics, esp. so as to profiteer from the unsettled social and political conditions of the area during Reconstruction.
2. any opportunistic or exploitive outsider: Our bus company has served this town for years, but now the new one run by carpetbaggers from the city is stealing our business.
Origin:
1865–70, Americanism; carpetbag + -er 1 ; so called because they came South carrying their belongings in carpetbags

Related forms:
car⋅pet⋅bag⋅ger⋅y, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To carpetbagger
car·pet·bag·ger   (kär'pĭt-bāg'ər)   
n.  
  1. A Northerner who went to the South after the Civil War for political or financial advantage.
  2. An outsider, especially a politician, who presumptuously seeks a position or success in a new locality.

[So called because they carried their belongings in carpetbags.]
car'pet·bag'ger·y n.
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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Carpetbagger

Car"pet*bag`ger\, n. 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.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : carpetbagger
Spanish: oportunista,
German: der Oportunist, *in,
Japanese: 渡り政治家
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