caucus
[kaw-kuh s]
- U.S. Politics.
- a meeting of party leaders to select candidates, elect convention delegates, etc.
- a meeting of party members within a legislative body to select leaders and determine strategy.
- (often initial capital letter)a faction within a legislative body that pursues its interests through the legislative process: the Women's Caucus; the Black Caucus.
- any group or meeting organized to further a special interest or cause.
Show More
- to hold or meet in a caucus.
Show More
- to bring up or hold for discussion in a caucus: The subject was caucused. The group caucused the meeting.
Show More
Origin of caucus
1755–65, Americanism; apparently first used in the name of the Caucus Club of colonial Boston; perhaps < Medieval Latin caucus drinking vessel, Late Latin caucum < Greek kaûkos; alleged Virginia Algonquian orig. less probable
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for caucus
Contemporary Examples
Pat Robertson finished second in the 1988 Iowa caucus, and it was all downhill from there.
Both are considered marginal figures in the House GOP caucus and have no real base of support for their respective bids.
The House caucus appears to be far more populist, feisty, and ready to push the debate on economic issues than it has in the past.
Now, the Memphis congressman is one of only a handful of white Southerners in his caucus and the once Solid South is deep red.
On June 18, 1971, the caucus threw its inaugural dinner at the Dunbar Hotel.
Historical Examples
It is felt in every caucus, in every nominating convention and at every election.
The Railroad QuestionWilliam Larrabee
Their names therefore were presented to the Republican caucus in the spring of 1898.
Governor Tompkins was the choice of the caucus for Vice-President.
Union and DemocracyAllen Johnson
The only bear-gardens in our community are the town-meeting and the caucus.
What on earth a lot of young ones want with a 'caucus,' beats me.
The Brass Bound BoxEvelyn Raymond
caucus
- mainly US and Canadian
- a closed meeting of the members of one party in a legislative chamber, etc, to coordinate policy, choose candidates, etc
- such a bloc of politiciansthe Democratic caucus in Congress
- mainly US
- a group of leading politicians of one party
- a meeting of such a group
- mainly US a local meeting of party members
- British a group or faction within a larger group, esp a political party, who discuss tactics, choose candidates, etc
- Australian a group of MPs from one party who meet to discuss tactics, etc
- NZ a formal meeting of all Members of Parliament belonging to one political party
Show More
- (intr) to hold a caucus
Show More
Word Origin
C18: probably of Algonquian origin; related to caucauasu adviser
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for caucus
n.
"private meeting of party leaders," 1763, American English (New England), perhaps from an Algonquian word caucauasu "counselor, elder, adviser" in the dialect of Virginia, or from the Caucus Club of Boston, a 1760s social & political club whose name possibly derived from Modern Greek kaukos "drinking cup." Another old guess is caulker's (meeting) [Pickering, 1816], but OED finds this dismissable.
caucus: "This noun is used throughout the United States, as a cant term for those meetings, which are held by the different political parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon candidates for office, or concerting any measure, which they intend to carry at the subsequent public, or town meetings." [John Pickering, "A Vocabulary, or Collection of Words and Phrases Which Have Been Supposed to be Peculiar to the United States of America," Boston, 1816]
The word caucus, and its derivative caucusing, are often used in Boston. The last answers much to what we stile parliamenteering or electioneering. All my repeated applications to different gentlemen have not furnished me with a satisfactory account of the origin of caucus. It seems to mean, a number of persons, whether more or less, met together to consult upon adopting and prosecuting some scheme of policy, for carrying a favorite point. [William Gordon, "History, Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Independence of the United States of America," London, 1788]
Show More
v.
1850, from caucus (n.), but caucusing is attested from 1788.
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
caucus
[(kaw-kuhs)]
A meeting of members of a political party to nominate candidates, choose convention delegates, plan campaign tactics, determine party policy, or select leaders for a legislature.
Show More
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.