panjandrum
[pan-jan-druh m]
- 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
Related Words for panjandrum
administrator, representative, minister, executive, bureaucrat, commissioner, agent, director, manager, officer, leader, secretary, premier, comptroller, exec, dignitary, top, magistrate, higher-up, governorExamples from the Web for panjandrum
Historical Examples of panjandrum
Same thing, I reckon, by all that you tell about that Panjandrum and his goin's on!
The Faith HealerWilliam Vaughn Moody
I would have died for my Panjandrum as my father died for his father.
Annajanska, the Bolshevik EmpressGeorge Bernard Shaw
My Panjandrum is deposed and transported to herd with convicts.
Annajanska, the Bolshevik EmpressGeorge Bernard Shaw
I should as soon have expected to meet the great Panjandrum himself!
In the Days of My YouthAmelia Ann Blandford Edwards
One player is chosen to be the Panjandrum, an important personage requiring a body guard.
Games for the Playground, Home, School and GymnasiumJessie H. Bancroft
panjandrum
- a pompous self-important official or person of rank
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Word Origin for panjandrum
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
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Word Origin and History for panjandrum
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