panjandrum
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of panjandrum
1745–55; pseudo-Latin word (based on pan- ) coined by Samuel Foote (1720–77), English dramatist and actor
Explanation
You can refer to the bossy, self-important president of your school's French club as a panjandrum, especially when she marches around assigning everyone tasks. Something about the word panjandrum suggests subcontinental origin, but it's actually a made-up word from the eighteenth century, designating an important and often overbearing person. The word was also commandeered in World War II to refer to a failed experimental weapon meant to breach sea walls.
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.
Roberts’ smoldering, high-beam intensity caught the attention of Joe Papp, a panjandrum of New York theater who cast Roberts in a Public Theater production of the Civil War drama “Rebel Women.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2024
Empson became the grand panjandrum of the New Criticism, which claimed that a work of literature could best be understood by a detailed analysis of its language.
From Time Magazine Archive
Last week, U.S. readers could find out a good deal more about the panjandrum.
From Time Magazine Archive
Moments later, he took the rostrum to deliver a dart-sharp speech calling for a complete overhaul and rejuvenation of the Republican Party, from precinct captain to panjandrum.
From Time Magazine Archive
I did not care for all this panjandrum of punctiliousness, but was, I hope, civil and chatty with everybody.
From James Nasmyth: Engineer; an autobiography by Samuel Smiles
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
