Pronounced: BILL-doongz-roh-mahn (alt: BILL-doongks-roh-mahn), noun
Notes: This word is also new to me
Yesterday’s word
The word Locofoco is
- a member of a radical group of New York Democrats organized in 1835 in opposition to the regular party organization
- a member of the US Democratic party
First usage
Our word came into English in the 1800s
Background / Comments
In the 1800s, a Locofoco was a new type of self-igniting match. It was also used of self-igniting cigars – like modern matches, they were started by friction. In 1835, a group of Democrats brought locofoco matches to one of their meetings after hearing that their enemies were plotting to disrupt the meeting by putting out the gas lights. The room did go black, but the group soon relit the lamps – thus earning the nickname. Over the years, the meaning has become generalized to the second meaning above. The theory is that our word came from locomotive (self-propelled) and the Italian word fuoco (fire).
Richard's Vocabulary Word-of-the-Day 