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panjandrum

[pan-jan-druh m]
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noun
  1. a self-important or pretentious official.
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Origin of panjandrum

1745–55; pseudo-Latin word (based on pan-) coined by Samuel Foote (1720–77), English dramatist and actor
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for panjandrum

Historical Examples

  • Same thing, I reckon, by all that you tell about that Panjandrum and his goin's on!

    The Faith Healer

    William Vaughn Moody

  • My Panjandrum is deposed and transported to herd with convicts.

  • I would have died for my Panjandrum as my father died for his father.

  • I should as soon have expected to meet the great Panjandrum himself!

    In the Days of My Youth

    Amelia Ann Blandford Edwards

  • One player is chosen to be the Panjandrum, an important personage requiring a body guard.

British Dictionary definitions for panjandrum

panjandrum

noun
  1. a pompous self-important official or person of rank
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Word Origin

C18: after a character, the Grand Panjandrum, in a nonsense work (1755) by Samuel Foote, English playwright and actor
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 panjandrum

n.

mock name for a pompous personage, 1755, invented by Samuel Foote (1720-1777) in a long passage full of nonsense written to test the memory of actor Charles Macklin (1697-1797), who said he could repeat anything after hearing it once.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper