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whig
[hwig, wig] 
–verb (used without object), whigged, whig⋅ging. Scot.
| to move along briskly. |
Whig
[hwig, wig] –noun
| 1. | American History.
|
| 2. | British Politics.
|
–adjective
| 3. | being a Whig. |
| 4. | of, pertaining to, or characteristic of the Whigs. |
Origin:
1635–45; earlier, a Covenanter, hence an opponent of the accession of James II; of uncert. orig., though prob. in part a shortening of whiggamaire (later whiggamore), a participant in the Whiggamore Raid a march against the royalists in Edinburgh launched by Covenanters in 1648 (said to represent whig to spur on (cf. whig ) + maire mare 1 )
1635–45; earlier, a Covenanter, hence an opponent of the accession of James II; of uncert. orig., though prob. in part a shortening of whiggamaire (later whiggamore), a participant in the Whiggamore Raid a march against the royalists in Edinburgh launched by Covenanters in 1648 (said to represent whig to spur on (cf. whig ) + maire mare 1 )
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To whig
| Whig (hwĭg, wĭg) n.
[Probably short for Whiggamore, a member of a body of 17th-century Scottish Presbyterian rebels.] Whig'ger·y n., Whig'gish adj., Whig'gism 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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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
| Main Entry: | Whig1 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | a member of a British political party which opposed the Tories in the 18th and 19th centuries |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
| Main Entry: | Whig2 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | in the American Revolution, one who supported the war against England |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
| Main Entry: | Whig3 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | a member of an American political party opposed to the Democrats in the 19th century |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
| Main Entry: | Whig4 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | an adherent of Presbyterianism in 17th century Scotland |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
| Main Entry: | Whig5 |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | figuratively, a rebel |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
| Main Entry: | Whig |
| Part of Speech: | adj |
| Definition: | belonging to or supporting a Whig political party |
| Etymology: | short for whiggamore |
Whig
Whig\, n. [See Whey.] Acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs, used as a cooling beverage. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.]Whig
Whig\, n. [Said to be from whiggam, a term used in Scotland in driving horses, whiggamore one who drives horses (a term applied to some western Scotchmen), contracted to whig. In 1648, a party of these people marched to Edinburgh to oppose the king and the duke of Hamilton (the Whiggamore raid), and hence the name of Whig was given to the party opposed to the court. Cf. Scot. whig to go quickly.]1. (Eng. Politics) One of a political party which grew up in England in the seventeenth century, in the reigns of Charles I. and II., when great contests existed respecting the royal prerogatives and the rights of the people. Those who supported the king in his high claims were called Tories, and the advocates of popular rights, of parliamentary power over the crown, and of toleration to Dissenters, were, after 1679, called Whigs. The terms Liberal and Radical have now generally superseded Whig in English politics. See the note under Tory. 2. (Amer. Hist.) (a) A friend and supporter of the American Revolution; -- opposed to Tory, and Royalist. (b) One of the political party in the United States from about 1829 to 1856, opposed in politics to the Democratic party.Whig
Whig\, a. Of or pertaining to the Whigs.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Whig
British political party, 1657, in part perhaps a disparaging use of whigg "a country bumpkin" (c.1645); but mainly a shortened form of Whiggamore (1649) "one of the adherents of the Presbyterian cause in western Scotland who marched on Edinburgh in 1648 to oppose Charles I." Perhaps originally "a horse drover," from dialectal verb whig "to urge forward" + mare. The name was first used 1689 in reference to members of the British political party that opposed the Tories. American Revolution sense of "colonist who opposes Crown policies" is from 1768. Later it was applied to opponents of Andrew Jackson (1825), and taken as the name of a political party (1834) that merged into the Republican Party in 1854-56. Whig historian "one who views history as an inevitable march of progress" is recorded from 1924.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Whig
members of two opposing political parties or factions in England, particularly during the 18th century. Originally "Whig" and "Tory" were terms of abuse introduced in 1679 during the heated struggle over the bill to exclude James, duke of York (afterward James II), from the succession. Whig-whatever its origin in Scottish Gaelic-was a term applied to horse thieves and, later, to Scottish Presbyterians; it connoted nonconformity and rebellion and was applied to those who claimed the power of excluding the heir from the throne. Tory was an Irish term suggesting a papist outlaw and was applied to those who supported the hereditary right of James despite his Roman Catholic faith.
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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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