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  1. roorback love

Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A false or slanderous story used for political advantage.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A fictitious story published for political effect; a “campaign lie.”

Wiktionary

  1. n. Alternative form of roorbach.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. U.S. A defamatory forgery or falsehood published for purposes of political intrigue.

Etymologies

  1. After Baron von Roorback, imaginary author of Roorback's Tour Through the Western and Southern States, from which a passage was purportedly quoted in an attempt to disparage presidential candidate James K. Polk in 1844. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

  • “Defined literally, a roorback is a “defamatory falsehood published for political effect,” but I wanted the grand old word to stand for all the defamations and falsehoods published and proffered in our irreverent media age.”

    Simon & Schuster: AMERICAN SUBVERSIVE

  • “Thornton has traced bolter to 1812, filibuster to 1863, roorback to 1844, and split-ticket to 1842.”

    Chapter 3. The Period of Growth. 3. The Expanding Vocabulary

  • “Dorgan knows how to make the best use of such a roorback on the eve of an election and even if”

    The Ear in the Wall

  • “McLoughlin knows how to make the best use of such a roorback on the eve of an election, and even if I not only deny but prove that they are a fake, I'm afraid the harm will be done.”

    The Poisoned Pen

  • “Elizur Wright purchased a Whig paper, and seeing a statement in it concerning the Free-soil candidate which he believed from internal evidence to be untrue, he said quite loud: "Well! this is the finest roorback I have met with.”

    Cambridge Sketches

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equivalents (1)

Other words for ‘roorback’

  1. roorbach

tags (4)

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  1. politics
  1. wotd
  1. word of the day
  1. cvvccvcc

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  • mialuthien roorback – a defamatory falsehood published for political effect Jul 25, 2008

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‘roorback’ has been looked up 1600 times, loved by 3 people, added to 9 lists, commented on 1 time, and has a Scrabble score of 16.