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Locofoco

[loh-koh-foh-koh]
See more synonyms for Locofoco on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. (sometimes lowercase) a member of the radical faction of the New York City Democrats, organized in 1835 to oppose the conservative members of the party.
  2. (lowercase) a friction match or cigar developed in the 19th century, ignited by rubbing against any hard, dry surface.
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Origin of Locofoco

special use of locofoco (cigar), self-lighting, rhyming compound apparently based on loco(motive), taken to mean self-moving; -foco, alteration of Italian fuoco fire < Latin focus fireplace
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for locofoco

Historical Examples

  • But now, should you go thither to seek him, you would inquire in vain for the Locofoco Surveyor.

    The Scarlet Letter

    Nathaniel Hawthorne

  • Four or five years afterward their enemies invented for their benefit the meaningless and hideous word "Locofoco."

  • A Locofoco is the only intelligible term: a fellow that would set any place on fire to roast his own eggs.

    Gryll Grange

    Thomas Love Peacock

  • You would find a Locofoco majority as much addicted to Class Legislation as a factitious aristocracy.

    Coningsby

    Benjamin Disraeli