Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The government of the United States, often personified by a representation of a tall, thin man having a white beard and wearing a blue tailcoat, red-and-white-striped trousers, and a tall hat with a band of stars.
  • noun The American nation or its people.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A personification of the United States government.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a personification of the United States government

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From US, abbr. of United States.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

First attested 1812. Common folklore holds that his origins come from the men of an army base in Troy, New York, who would receive barrels of meat stamped with the initials U.S. The soldiers jokingly referred to it as the initials of the meat supplier, Uncle Samuel Wilson.

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Examples

  • More likely AIG refused to release the names because those who pocketed the cash are already fabulously wealthy and the idea of Uncle Sam augmenting their private fortunes would rub most people the wrong way.

    Joseph A. Palermo: AIG and the Undeserving Rich 2009

  • Meanwhile, the regent, irreverently called Uncle Sam, who rules the land while his master is away in Utopia, reads the cahiers of the nobles, laughs in his sleeve at that of the clergy, and forgets all about that of the third estate.

    The Bay State Monthly — Volume 1, No. 5, May, 1884 Various

  • Many of them even help facilitate the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through translation services, military recruitment, and other forms of quisling-type collaboration with Uncle Sam, which is a disservice to both the homeland they left behind and the society they adopted as their new home.

    MRZine.org 2010

  • The only income that is really going up is the income from Uncle Sam, which is up more than 10. 0% and we have reached a point where a record of nearly one-fifth of personal income is being accounted for by paychecks out of Washington.

    US Market Commentary from Seeking Alpha 2009

  • If you want to check the official word on this, read what Uncle Sam has to say at the website of the Internal Revenue Service.

    Lighten Up Peter Walsh 2011

  • If you want to check the official word on this, read what Uncle Sam has to say at the website of the Internal Revenue Service.

    Lighten Up Peter Walsh 2011

  • And they're quite happy to let Uncle Sam, eternal sucker of the global trading system, pursue that objective, because it helps them keep their currencies down.

    Ian Fletcher: Enough Already With the Macho Dollar Ian Fletcher 2011

  • For now, Uncle Sam and his sister want you to keep an eye out.

    G.W. Schulz: 'Big Sister' Continues Push for Suspicious Activity Program G.W. Schulz 2011

  • And they're quite happy to let Uncle Sam, eternal sucker of the global trading system, pursue that objective, because it helps them keep their currencies down.

    Ian Fletcher: Enough Already With the Macho Dollar Ian Fletcher 2011

  • And they're quite happy to let Uncle Sam, eternal sucker of the global trading system, pursue that objective, because it helps them keep their currencies down.

    Ian Fletcher: Enough Already With the Macho Dollar Ian Fletcher 2011

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