mugwump

plural mugwumps

1. humorousA (male) leader; an important (male) person.

   Synonyms: baron, big cheese, big enchilada, big gun, big kahuna, big man, big name, big noise · Antonyms: absolute zero, also-ran, chopped liver, cipher, crumb, Joe Nobody, little guy, minnow

2. UShistoricalgovernmentA 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).
3. broadlygovernmentA person who purports to stay aloof from party politics.

   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.

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

   1 more example

   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 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

4. AustraliaUSbroadlygovernmentOne who switches from supporting one political party to another, especially for personal benefit.
5. AustraliaUSbroadlycolloquialderogatoryA person who stays neutral or non-committal; a fence sitter; also, a person who maintains an aloof and often self-important demeanour.

   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.

   1935, George Goodchild, chapter 1, in Death on the Centre Court: A McLean Mystery, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC

6. AustraliaA foolish person.

   ‘I very much doubt whether they’ll be able to make this pot-walloping mugwump of an Abbot understand their wire-drawn deductions,’ said Silvander Dan.

   1936, Norman Lindsay, The Flyaway Highway, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 43

present singular third person mugwumps · participle present mugwumping · participle past mugwumped · past mugwumped

1. USintransitiveTo behave like a mugwump.
2. USintransitiveTo purport to stay aloof and independent, especially from party politics.

plural Mugwumps

1. Alternative letter-case form of mugwump.