high-muck-a-muck
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of high-muck-a-muck
First recorded in 1855–60; from Chinook Jargon hayo makamak, hiyu muckamuck, literally, “plenty to eat, much food,” perhaps extended derisively to Indigenous people of high status with much disposable wealth, as for potlatches; hayo, from Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) ḥayo “ten” (the base of various measures with suffixes for specific countable nouns); mak(a)mak “eat, food,” from Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka) ma·ḥo·ma(q-) “part of whale meat between blubber and flesh”
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.
Speaking of things totally irrational and crazy and absurd, the Manchester City high-muck-a-muck, Roberto Mancini, has decided that since winning the league the atmosphere around their Carrington training ground is a touch too straight-laced, a bit too stuffy.
From The Guardian
Alaskan settlers corrupted a powerful drink of the Hutsnuwu Indians into hooch, changed hiu muckamuck, the Chinook words meaning "plenty to eat," into a high-muck-a-muck, a "person of importance."
From Time Magazine Archive
At this point we must present, with apologies, the agent of the Autocrat, the agent, the High-muck-a-muck of the Pacific Slope, with a salary of a hundred thousand a year and perks!
From Project Gutenberg
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
