pork barrel

See synonyms for pork barrel on Thesaurus.com
nounInformal.
  1. a government appropriation, bill, or policy that supplies funds for local improvements designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents.

Origin of pork barrel

1
An Americanism dating back to 1905–10

Other words from pork barrel

  • pork-barrel, adjective
  • pork-bar·rel·ing, adjective, noun

Words Nearby pork barrel

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use pork barrel in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pork barrel

pork barrel

noun
  1. slang, mainly US

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

    • (as modifier): pork-barrel spending

Origin of pork barrel

1
C20: term originally applied to the Federal treasury considered as a source of lucrative grants

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with pork barrel

pork barrel

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]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.