This week’s theme
Words derived from animals

This week’s words
black dog
gobemouche
mooncalf
pork barrel
railbird

“A word after a word after a word is power.” ~Margaret Atwood
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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(PORK bar-uhl)

MEANING:

noun: The spending of government funds on projects designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents.

ETYMOLOGY:

In the beginning, a pork barrel was a barrel for storing pork. Over time, it became synonymous with ready supply of money, and eventually with government projects or appropriations designed to please voters. Sometimes, the term is used, simply, as pork, instead of pork barrel. Earliest documented use: 1705.

USAGE:

“As revealed in lights this week, this coalition’s weakness is ... the pork barrel nature of its regional development initiatives.”
Pork-Barrel Policies Expose Achilles’ Heel; Dominion Post (Wellington, New Zealand); Mar 3, 2018.

See more usage examples of pork barrel in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: