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doughface

American  
[doh-fays] / ˈdoʊˌfeɪs /

noun

U.S. History.
  1. a Northerner who sympathized with the South during the controversies over new territories and slavery before the Civil War.

  2. a congressman from a northern state not opposed to slavery in the South.


Etymology

Origin of doughface

An Americanism dating back to 1785–95; dough + face


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

The choice went instead to James Buchanan, a colorless Pennsylvania doughface with a long record of party service dating back to Andrew Jackson’s day.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 18, 2018

At the same time, emphasizing Pierce’s status as a doughface threatened to push anti-slavery Democrats into the splinter Free Soil Party, fracturing the party in the North.

From Slate ● Sep. 14, 2012

In this sense Lincoln, with his life-long record of opposition to the extension of slavery, was a doughface.

From From Sail to Steam, Recollections of Naval Life by A. T. (Alfred Thayer) Mahan

The country at large has had to pay dearly for that old doughface love for the South; it is paying every day in lives and money.

From The Continental Monthly, Vol. 2, No. 1, July, 1862 by Various

He is a hypocritical doughface, but false and underhanded.

From Black Forest Village Stories by Berthold Auerbach

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