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party spirit

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English

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WOTD – 24 December 2019

Pronunciation

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Noun

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party spirit (uncountable)

  1. A feeling or sense of celebration or enjoyment.
    • 1931 May, Anthony Powell, chapter 11, in Afternoon Men, London: Duckworth, →OCLC; new edition, Melbourne, Vic., London: William Heinemann, 1952 (1960 reprint), →OCLC, part II (Perihelion), page 96:
      'Americans always have such a lot of misdirected party spirit,' said Gosling. 'One came to a party I have two years ago and drank so much that he died soon after.'
    • 1998, Ethel R. Nelson, “Encounter with a Unique Cancer”, in Burkitt: Cancer, Fiber: How a Humble Surgeon Changed the World!, Brushton, N.Y.: Teach Services, →ISBN, page 78:
      [...] [Denis Parsons] Burkitt would enter the party spirit and spare no pains to entertain the guests. As soon as he could get away, he would proceed on his rounds, accompanied by his wife and his son.
    • 2001, Mark B. Higginson, chapter 16, in North of the River, Lincoln, Neb.: Writer’s Showcase, iUniverse, →ISBN, page 202:
      None of them were particularly in the party spirit, and no one had attempted to speak once the band on the other side of the room had begun playing.
    • 2014 July 3, Poe Hawkins, “Where Stars Shine Like the Real Thing”, in The Last Alchemist and the Love of His Life, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 204:
      Fifty or sixty people were already holding drinks and getting absorbed in the party spirit when Sonia walked hand in hand with Joel to the center bar.
    • 2014 November 22, Richard DeBenedictis, chapter 55, in The Privileged Few, Bloomington, Ind.: AuthorHouse, →ISBN, page 239:
      Well, I know that dampens your party spirit, but I knew you'd want to know. Let's have a beer in tribute to the guy.
  2. (politics) The feeling of common purpose and togetherness experienced or shown by members or supporters of a group, especially a political party, sometimes accompanied by unreasonable animosity towards members or supporters of other groups.
    • 1734 January 30, “The Same Subject Continued. To Caleb D’Anvers, Esq”, in Caleb D’Anvers [pseudonym; Nicholas Amhurst; William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath; Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke; et al.], editor, The Craftsman, volume XII, numbers 394 (Saturday, Jan. 19, 1733–4 [Julian calendar]), London: Printed for R. Francklin, […], published 1737, →OCLC, page 92:
      In the mean while, We will obſerve that beſides the Paſſion and Party Spirit, which poſſeſſ almoſt all Thoſe, who write on this Subject, there is a Diſtinction, which ſhould be conſtantly made in Caſes of this Nature, and which They never make, or never make exactly enough. They compare the Proceedings, without comparing the Situations.
    • [1744], Sallust, “Discourse VIII. Of Civil Wars.”, in Thomas Gordon, transl., The Works of Sallust, Translated into English. With Political Discourses upon that Author. […], London: Printed for R[ichard] Ware, […], →OCLC, section VII (A View of the Affecting Horrors, and Calamities, Produced by Civil War; Taken from the History of Greece), page 157:
      Party-Spirit was the great and uncontroulable Adviſer and Defender of all things: Its groſſeſt Miſrepreſentations were readily believed; its moſt furious Dictates moſt chearfully obeyed.
    • 1817, Richard Phillips, “[Wandsworth]”, in A Morning’s Walk from London to Kew, London: Printed by J. Adlard, […]; sold by John Souter, […], →OCLC, page 77:
      Some facetious members of the club gave, in a few years, local notoriety to this election; and, when party spirit ran high in the days of Wilkes and Liberty, it was easy to create an appetite for a burlesque election among the lower orders of the Metropolis.
    • 1862, Victor Hugo, “A Qualification”, in Cha[rle]s E[dwin] Wilbour, transl., Les Misérables. Fantine. […], volume I, New York, N.Y.: [George W.] Carleton, publisher, […], →OCLC, book 1 (An Upright Man), page 33, column 2:
      Even Monseigneur Bienvenu then had his hour of party spirit, his hour of bitterness, his clouds. [...] [I]t would have been well if Monseigneur Bienvenu had not been a royalist, [...]
    • 1868 October 20, John Lothrop Motley, Four Questions for the People, at the Presidential Election: Address of John Lothrop Motley, before the Parker Fraternity, at the Music Hall, October 20, 1868, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 4:
      Certainly there have been bitterly contested elections in this country before. Party spirit is always rife, and in such vivid, excitable, disputatious communities as ours are, and I trust always will be, it is the very soul of freedom.
    • 1919, Samuel P. Orth, “Legislative Omnipotence”, in Allen Johnson, editor, The Boss and the Machine: A Chronicle of the Politicians and Party Organization (The Chronicles of America; 43), Abraham Lincoln edition, New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press; Toronto, Ont.: Glasgow, Brook & Co.; London: Humphrey Milford; Oxford University Press, →OCLC, page 120:
      In the early days, men of first-class ability, such as Alexander Hamilton, Samuel Adams, and James Madison, did not disdain membership in the state legislatures. But the development of party spirit and machine politics brought with it a great change. Then came the legislative caucus; and party politics soon reigned in every capital.
    • 1946, The New Testament of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ: Revised Standard Version: Translated from the Greek: […], New York, N.Y.: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, Galatians 5:19–21, page 409:
      Now the works of the flesh are plain: immorality, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
    • 1975, Frederick Copleston, “Thomism in France”, in A History of Philosophy (Bellarmine series; 20), volume IX (Maine de Biran to Sartre), Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press; Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Search Press, →ISBN, page 250:
      Official approval of a certain line of thought could and did produce a party-spirit which was narrow and polemical. At no time indeed was Thomism as such imposed on Catholic philosophers in a way which would imply that it was part of the Catholic faith.
    • 2015, Emma Crewe, “Joining the House”, in The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work, London, New York, N.Y.: Bloomsbury Academic, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, page 32:
      Whether seen by fellow activists or photographed by the media, perhaps when MPs, Ministers and even the PM are seen backing the party, this supremely egalitarian business of electioneering is a rare opportunity to engender some party spirit and loyalty – some communitas, again [...].

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