pork barrel

American  

noun

Informal.

1. a government appropriation, bill, or policy that supplies funds for local improvements designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents.

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pork barrel British  

noun

1. slang

   1. a bill or project requiring considerable government spending in a locality to the benefit of the legislator's constituents

   2. ( as modifier )

      pork-barrel spending

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pork barrel Idioms  

1. Government funding of something that benefits a particular district, whose legislator thereby wins favor with local voters. For example, Our senator knows the value of the pork barrel. This expression alludes to the fatness of pork, equated with political largesse since the mid-1800s. [c. 1900]

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Other Word Forms

• pork-barrel
  adjective
• pork-barreling
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of pork barrel

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Example Sentences

With the adoption of dam cost sharing in the 1980s, Reisner writes, “the pork barrel seemed finally to have lost its anchorings.”

From Slate • Aug. 28, 2024

No member brought home more money than former Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, who retired this year as one of the last big pork barrel legends.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2023

He survived to become a crusader for campaign finance reform and against pork barrel spending.

From The Guardian • Jun. 17, 2016

They are accused of benefiting from the suspected embezzlement of billions of pesos from the Priority Development Assistance Fund, known as the pork barrel.

From Economist • Jun. 26, 2014

And I bake every Saturday, and Shad brings fish on Friday, and they’s a pork barrel full of meal, and we float eggs in a crock of vinegar...”

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison