jawsmith

plural jawsmiths

1. USslangAn orator, especially a demagogue.

   1 more example

   [Phil LaGassly] had a knack for winning over tough audiences, throwing in little asides and an unscripted joke or two as he went along. […] Andy [LaGassly's speechwriter] would sprinkle in a fair amount of substance here and there, wherever he could, always making sure he came up with a few catchy phrases that were conducive to huzzah; and LaGassly could be counted on to deliver them in exactly the right way. It had been quite an act–the jawsmith and the wordsmith […]

   2002, John Quirt, Jackboots in the Heartland, pages 58–59

2. USslangA union organizer; later especially of the International Workers of the World.

   The life of a "jawsmith", as IWW speakers and agitators were called […] Fatigue, burnout and overexhaustion are the diseases of the jawsmith trade.

   1987, Rosalyn Baxandall, editor, Words on Fire: The Life and Writing of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, pages 11, 19

   3 more examples

   One professional jaw-smith, who came as the self-appointed messenger of American labor wanted a Chinese-wall tariff, and subsidized ships to carry cargoes one way and ballast the other.

   1891 January 16, Congressional Record, volume 22, 51st Congress, 2nd session, House, page 1476

   The evolutions and involutions of a maiden effort at Dress Parade are incomprehensible as ravings of the salaried jawsmith in a labor strike, who has burst into a profuse state of prevarication as the rosy beer-froth mantles his sublime cheek.

   1898, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, volume 29, page 253

   Many Wobblies became "jawsmiths," or organizers, themselves. While working at their regular jobs they would hitchhike and boxcar-hop across the country, stopping off at factory towns and lumber camps, speaking and singing at the top of their lungs.

   1986, Pete Seeger, Carry it on!: a history in song and picture of the working men and women of America, page 104