Throttlebottom

American  

[throt-l-bot-uhm] / ˈθrɒt lˌbɒt əm /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)

1. a harmless incompetent in public office.

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Etymology

Origin of Throttlebottom

After Alexander Throttlebottom, character in Of Thee I Sing (1932), musical comedy by George S. Kaufman ( def. ) and Morrie Ryskind (1895–1985), American dramatist, lyricist, and writer

Example Sentences

An amateur psychologist, she recognizes the primitive satisfaction it gave her to know that her adored father was released from the "comic obscurity" lately immortalized in Vice President Throttlebottom.

From Time Magazine Archive

"He may be viewed as a kind of Ivy League Throttlebottom," declared a wary admirer, "but he is formidable -- and absolutely necessary."

From Time Magazine Archive

Apprehensive Britons, reading that he felt as if a bull had fallen on him, might mistakenly take him for a Throttlebottom.

From Time Magazine Archive

There was a smash-bang amidships and the next thing Alexander Throttlebottom knew he was thrashing about beneath his own overturned craft.

From Time Magazine Archive

Quayle, who often seemed as lost as an actor missing half the pages of his script, struggled to overcome his own Throttlebottom image -- and lost.

From Time Magazine Archive