santorum

santorum · noun¹

From the surname of former US Senator Rick Santorum (born 1958). After Santorum made statements comparing homosexuality to bestiality and opining that mutually consenting adults do not have a constitutional right to privacy with respect to sexual acts, US columnist Dan Savage gathered input from his readers and held a contest for definitions to "memorialize the scandal". Savage set up a website which defined the term, and helped to promote it. See Campaign for the neologism "santorum" for further information. Rick Santorum's surname, in turn, comes from Italian; see Santorum for more.

Santorum · proper noun²

1. Italian · derived fromSantorino“from the island of Santorini”
2. Latin · derived fromsanctorum“of the saints”
3. English todaySantorum

From Italian. For most bearers, the surname is from Latin sanctorum (“of the saints”). For some individuals of Italian or Maltese ancestry, the name is related to the Italian Santorino (“from the island of Santorini”).

First known use, by meaning

• from 21st c. A frothy mixture of lubricant and fecal matter as an occasional byproduct of anal sex.
• from 21st c. Shit: rubbish, worthless matter, nonsense, bull.