mugwump

English

WOTD – 27 February 2021

Etymology

The noun is borrowed from Massachusett mugquomp, mummugquomp (“war leader”). Folk etymology reinterpreted it as referring to a person who sat on the fence with their mug (“face”) on one side and wump (“rump”) on the other, which influenced political cartoons during the 1884 United States presidential election.

The verb is derived from the noun.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɡwʌmp/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈmʌɡˌwʌmp/, [ˈməɡˌwəmp]
• Hyphenation: mug‧wump

Noun

mugwump (plural mugwumps)

1. (chiefly humorous) A (male) leader; an important (male) person.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:important person

   Antonyms: see Thesaurus:nonentity

2. (politics)
   1. (US, historical) A member of the Republican Party who declined to support the party's nominee James G. Blaine (1830–1893) during the 1884 United States presidential election, believing him to be corrupt, and instead supported the Democratic Party's candidate Grover Cleveland (1837–1908).
   2. (by extension) A person who purports to stay aloof from party politics.
      • 1901 May, Winston Churchill, “A Strange Meeting”, in The Crisis, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, book III, page 427:

        The story of the capture of Vicksburg is the old, old story of failure turned into success, by which man is made immortal. It involves the history of a general who never retraced his steps, who cared neither for mugwump murmurs nor political cabals, who took both blame and praise with equanimity.

      • 1901–1903, [George] Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman. A Comedy and a Philosophy, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1903, →OCLC, Act III, page 116:

        After them came the politician, who said there was only one purpose in Nature, and that was to get him into parliament. I told him I did not care whether he got into parliament or not; so he called me Mugwump and went his way.

   3. (Australia, US, by extension) One who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit.
3. (Australia, US, by extension, colloquial, somewhat derogatory) A person who stays neutral or non-committal; a fence sitter; also, a person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour.
   • 1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court: A McLean Mystery, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC:

     Anthea hasn't a notion in her head but to vamp a lot of silly mugwumps. She's set her heart on that tennis bloke [...] whom the papers are making such a fuss about.

4. (Australia) A foolish person.

Derived terms

• mugwumpery
• mugwumpish
• mugwumpism

Translations

(male) leader; important (male) person

member of the Republican Party who declined to support the party’s nominee during the 1884 United States presidential election, and instead supported the Democratic Party’s candidate

person who purports to stay aloof from party politics

one who switches from supporting one political party to another

person who stays neutral or non-committal — see also fence sitter

person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour

Verb

mugwump (third-person singular simple present mugwumps, present participle mugwumping, simple past and past participle mugwumped) (chiefly US)

1. (intransitive) To behave like a mugwump.
2. (intransitive) To purport to stay aloof and independent, especially from party politics.

Translations

to behave like a mugwump

to purport to stay aloof and independent

Further reading

• mugwumps on Wikipedia.Wikipedia