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Whig

Whig [ wig ] (plural Whigs)

noun

Definition:

1. member of former British political party: a member of a reforming British political party that supported the aristocracy and later the business community, finally becoming the core of the Liberal Party

2. conservative in British Liberal Party: a conservative member of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom

3. supporter of free enterprise: an opponent of government intervention in commerce and the economy

4. US supporter of war against British: a supporter of the American side against the British in the American War of Independence

5. US member of 19C US political party: a member of a 19th-century US political party that favoured a loose interpretation of the Constitution and opposed the Democratic Party

6. Scotland Scottish Presbyterian: a 17th-century Presbyterian in Scotland

[Mid-17th century. Shortening of obsolete Scots dialect whiggamaire 'horse driver']

Whiggery noun

Whiggish adjective

Whiggishly adverb

Whiggishness noun

Whiggism noun

Word History


	The Scots word Whig seems originally to have been used as a contemptuous term for a country dweller, but by the middle of the 17th century it was being applied to Presbyterian supporters in Scotland. It was later adopted as a name for those who opposed the succession of the Catholic King James II, and by 1689 it had established itself as the title of one of the two main British political parties, opposed to the Tories.

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