caucus

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"All work product produced for the Democratic caucus by William Chadwick while the caucus was his client is the property of the caucus," Casey said in a statement.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (6)

  1. noun A meeting of the local members of a political party especially to select delegates to a convention or register preferences for candidates running for office.
  2. noun A closed meeting of party members within a legislative body to decide on questions of policy or leadership.
  3. noun A group within a legislative or decision-making body seeking to represent a specific interest or influence a particular area of policy: a minority caucus.
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Examples (50)

  • Democrats decided to sacrifice Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-Queens) as their leader in order to lure back Sen. Hiram Monserrate (D-Queens) into their caucus, although Smith technically remains their titular leader. —  LifeSiteNews.com Headlines
  • Members were originally set to meet at 9: 30 for the caucus, and file onto the House floor at 11 a.m., but one staffer said the weather delays may mean voting could start at noon or later. —  Home - BostonHerald.com
  • For 40 years, the caucus has been the center of black power in Washington, the go-to group for anyone hoping to court the black population and the politicians who represent them. —  Prometheus 6 - All respect and no restraint
  • If the article is inappropriate for a caucus, the tag will be changed to open. —  Latest Articles
  • Mr. Ignatieff expressed some level of support for the coalition yesterday, the first time since reports suggested he did not embrace the process and wanted no role in a coalition cabinet, referring to the coalition as "a very credible weapon of dissuasion" and saying "this caucus is as one in maintaining the credibility of that dissuasive instrument." —  Dose.ca Celeb News
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Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. After the Caucus Club of Boston (in the 1760s), possibly from Medieval Latin caucus, drinking vessel.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. This word originated in Boston, Massachusetts. According to a common account it is a corruption of calkers, meeting, a term said to have been applied in derision by the Tories to meetings of citizens, among whom were calkers and ropemakers, held to protest against the aggressions of the royal troops, and especially against the “Boston Massacre” of March 5th, 1770. But such a corruption and forgetfulness of the orig. meaning of a word so familiar as calkers is improbable, and, moreover, the word caucus occurs at least 7 years earlier, in the following passage in the diary of John Adams: “Feb…., 1763—This day learned that the Caucus Club meets at certain times in the garret of Tom Dawes, the adjutant of the Boston (militia) regiment.” This indicates the origin of the term caucus, as a private meeting for political purposes, in the name of a club of that nature, called the “Caucus Club.” The origin of the name as applied to the club is not known, but if not an arbitrary term, chosen for its alliterative form and feigned mysterious import, it may have been a learned adoption, in allusion to theconvivial or symposiac feature of the club, of the Middle Latin caucus, from MGr, καῡκος, (also καύκη,καῡκα, with diminutive καυκίον), a cup.
  2. from caucus, n.
 

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/ˈkɔkəs/
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