placeman

American  

[pleys-muhn] / ˈpleɪs mən /

noun

British.

• placemen
  plural

1. a person appointed to a position, especially one in the government, as a reward for political support of an elected official.

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placeman British  

/ ˈpleɪsmən /

noun

1. derogatory a person who holds a public office, esp for private profit and as a reward for political support

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• placemanship
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• placemen
  plural

Etymology

Origin of placeman

First recorded in 1735–45; place + -man

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

placeman placemen

Mr Sharif has installed a loyal placeman, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, previously the minister for natural resources, as interim prime minister.

From Economist ● Aug. 3, 2017

Meanwhile, far from being a Whelan placeman, Cryer was another of his targets.

From The Guardian ● Mar. 21, 2010

The new placeman, having achieved office, subsides into a long silence.

From Lord Chatham His Early Life and Connections by Rosebery, Archibald Phillip Primrose

Frederic, Prince of Wales, was the first object of all needy politicians, and Rigby for a while attached himself to this feeble personage with all the zeal of a prospective placeman.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 340, February, 1844 by Various

He went once, at all events, to the gallery of the House of Commons, where he witnessed an altercation between a placeman and an alderman—two well-known types still in our midst.

From Res Judicat? Papers and Essays by Birrell, Augustine

But while the administrators controlled Polly Peck's assets on paper and in law, in Northern Cyprus and Turkey those properties and businesses remained firmly in the hands of the tycoon's placemen.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 26, 2012

By another wise measure placemen were removed from the Assembly; that is to say, permanent officials, such as judges and registrars, could not hold their positions and be members of parliament.

From The Winning of Popular Government A Chronicle of the Union of 1841 by MacMechan, Archibald

Till we gain a reform, and do placemen away, We’ll at Liberty’s call, all her dictates obey.

From A Poem to the Memory of our late lamented Queen Caroline of England by Parkerson, James

In the prosecution of their measures they were traversed by an opposition of a new and singular character; an opposition of placemen and pensioners.

From The Works of the Right Honourable Edmund Burke, Vol. 01 (of 12) by Burke, Edmund

Would not even this emasculate order of placemen, standing apart a sacrificed though favored class, still present themselves as unpardonable offenders?

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. XVI., December, 1880. by Various