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Throttlebottom

American  
[throt-l-bot-uhm] / ˈθrɒt lˌbɒt əm /

noun

(sometimes lowercase)
  1. a harmless incompetent in public office.


Etymology

Origin of Throttlebottom

After Alexander Throttlebottom, character in Of Thee I Sing (1932), musical comedy by George S. Kaufman ( def. ) and Morrie Ryskind (1895–1985), American dramatist, lyricist, and writer


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

They don't want a Throttlebottom in the job.

From Time Magazine Archive

Quayle, who often seemed as lost as an actor missing half the pages of his script, struggled to overcome his own Throttlebottom image -- and lost.

From Time Magazine Archive

An amateur psychologist, she recognizes the primitive satisfaction it gave her to know that her adored father was released from the "comic obscurity" lately immortalized in Vice President Throttlebottom.

From Time Magazine Archive

Apprehensive Britons, reading that he felt as if a bull had fallen on him, might mistakenly take him for a Throttlebottom.

From Time Magazine Archive

But if for a time Congressmen thought as the public did, they have since changed their mind, for Throttlebottom has a hand on the throttle.

From Time Magazine Archive

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