spoilsman

[ spoilz-muhn ]

/ ˈspɔɪlz mən /

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noun, plural spoils·men.

a person who seeks or receives a share in political spoils.

an advocate of the spoils system in politics.

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His boss, whom he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project.

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Origin of spoilsman

1835–45, Americanism;spoils + -man

Words nearby spoilsman

spoiler party, spoilfive, spoil for, spoil ground, spoils, spoilsman, spoilsport, spoils system, spoilt, Spokane, spoke

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use spoilsman in a sentence

But he was certain to be a partisan, a spoilsman, a tool of Tammany Hall and its corrupt boss.
Tin-Types Taken in the Streets of New York|Lemuel Ely Quigg
To this celebrated and execrable defense Van Buren owes much of the later and unjust belief that he was an inveterate "spoilsman."
Martin Van Buren|Edward M. Shepard
The debate upon this appointment gave the spoilsman an epigram.
The Boss and the Machine|Samuel P. Orth
Even Blaine, whom he so cordially honored, he thought a spoilsman at times, not always a statesman.
Twenty Years in Europe|Samuel H. M. Byers

The people, as Barnum has said, love to be humbugged, and are quite ready to pay tribute to the political boss and spoilsman.
My Life in Many States and in Foreign Lands|George Francis Train

British Dictionary definitions for spoilsman

spoilsman

/ (ˈspɔɪlzmən) /

noun plural -men

US politics a person who shares in the spoils of office or advocates the spoils system

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