filibuster

Definitions

  • WordNet 3.6
    • v filibuster obstruct deliberately by delaying
    • n filibuster (law) a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches
    • n filibuster a legislator who gives long speeches in an effort to delay or obstruct legislation that he (or she) opposes
    • ***
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  • Interesting fact: US Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina set a filibuster record in the U.S. Senate on August 19, 1957. He spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes.
    • n Filibuster A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855.
    • Filibuster To act as a filibuster, or military freebooter.
    • Filibuster To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices.
    • ***
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
    • n filibuster A freebooter: in history, a name distinctively applied to the West Indian bucaneers or pirates of the seventeenth century. See bucaneer.
    • n filibuster Hence One of a band of men organized, in disregard of international law, for the purpose of invading and revolutionizing a foreign state. Specifically applied in history to the members of certain expeditions which in the middle of the nineteenth century originated in or set out from the United States against certain Spanish-American countries for the purpose of revolutionizing them. The principal of these expeditions were those led by Narciso Lopez from New Orleans against Cuba, in 1850-51, and those by William Walker from California against the Mexican state of Sonora in 1853-54, and against Nicaragua in 1855-58. Both leaders were captured and put to death, the latter after having succeeded in his second object and exercised sovereign power for some time over Nicaragua. Hence
    • n filibuster In a legislative or other deliberative body, a member in the minority who resorts to irregular or obstructive tactics to prevent the adoption of a measure or procedure which is favored by the majority. Also filibusterer.
    • filibuster To act as a freebooter or bucaneer.
    • filibuster To obstruct legislation by undue use of the technicalities of parliamentary law or privileges, as when the minority in a legislative assembly, in order to prevent the passage of some measure obnoxious to them, endeavor to consume time or tire out their opponents by useless motions, speeches, objections, etc.
    • ***
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
    • n Filibuster fil′i-bus-tėr a lawless military or piratical adventurer, as in the West Indies: a buccaneer
    • v.i Filibuster to obstruct legislation wantonly by endless speeches, motions, &c
    • ***

Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Sp. flibuster, flibustero, corrupted fr. E. freebooter,. See Freebooter

Usage

In literature:

I framed it all up for this filibuster trip you're on, Scraggsy, only I never did hear that they'd picked on you.
"Captain Scraggs" by Peter B. Kyne
It is known that a number of filibustering expeditions have landed, and the Cubans feel very much elated.
"The Great Round World and What Is Going On In It, Vol. 2, No. 11, March 17, 1898" by Various
Three hundred French filibusters were killed in the battle.
"The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century" by Clarence Henry Haring
Who will believe that you were not a true filibuster?
"The Stowaway Girl" by Louis Tracy
A famous West Indian filibuster.
"The Pirates' Who's Who" by Philip Gosse
Information about alleged filibuster movements found a ready market at the Spanish legation.
"The Statesmen Snowbound" by Robert Fitzgerald
In 1859 a rumor had reached them all that St. Clair had gone on some filibustering expedition to Cuba.
"Pirate Gold" by Frederic Jesup Stimson
Filibusters saw the value of a base so close to Spanish holdings, realized the impregnability of the harbor and flocked thither.
"Plotting in Pirate Seas" by Francis Rolt-Wheeler
The province had become a rendezvous for pirates, filibusters, renegade Indians, and runaway negroes.
"Union and Democracy" by Allen Johnson
My father was an Irish filibuster in Cuba.
"The Pirate of Panama" by William MacLeod Raine
The suppression of filibustering expeditions taxed our Treasury and our patience.
"History of the United States, Volume 5" by E. Benjamin Andrews
To the Irish, the Egyptians and the Turks the poet-filibuster had merely sent greetings.
"The Birth of Yugoslavia, Volume 2" by Henry Baerlein
If it came to that, all Paris would guffaw at the notion of dear Alec becoming a filibuster.
"A Son of the Immortals" by Louis Tracy
There was no considerable popular support since the Civil War for filibustering expeditions of the old sort against Cuba.
"Problems of Expansion" by Whitelaw Reid
He joined a filibustering party which the Dauntless landed at Camaguay in August, 1896.
"Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror" by Richard Linthicum
On August 11, Lopez had landed with more filibusters in Cuba.
"A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year" by Edwin Emerson
The Antifederalists resorted to filibustering.
"The Critical Period of American History" by John Fiske
The poor man no longer left the house, for fear of saluting a filibuster.
"An Eagle Flight" by José Rizal
Yes; Carlos Santander was also a candidate for the command of the filibusters.
"The Free Lances" by Mayne Reid
Had he failed, he would have been stigmatized as a filibuster.
"Aztec Land" by Maturin M. Ballou
***

In poetry:

His, too, each homely lyric thing
On sport or spousal love or spring
Or dogs or dusters,
Invented by some court-house bard
For recitation by the yard
In filibusters.
"Under Which Lyre" by W H Auden

In news:

The floor of the Missouri Senate, where Democrats filibustered a workplace discrimination reform bill into the evening hours Wednesday.
kbia.org
Federal court hears arguments on Senate filibuster challenge.
washingtonpost.com
Senate filibuster faces federal court challenge.
washingtonpost.com
He is part of a federal court challenge to the Senate filibuster.
washingtonpost.com
Senator Scott Brown's final speech hints at return and opposes changes to Senate filibuster rules.
boston.com
Filibuster needs fixing, but it can wait until after the 'fiscal cliff' is fixed .
columbiamissourian.com
Roy Blunt suggested last week that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Was "kicking over a hornet's nest" by talking about changing Senate filibuster rules.
columbiamissourian.com
Filibuster needs fixing , but it can wait until after the 'fiscal cliff' is fixed.
columbiamissourian.com
Replace the 'silent filibuster' with the 'talking filibuster'.
usnews.com
Discuss the Republicans' plan to cut off the Democratic filibuster and a potential Senate shutdown.
pbs.org
Congress's Problems Go Beyond the Filibuster.
theatlantic.com
PBS NewsHour Senators Spar Over Filibusters Amid Partisan Gridlock PBS.
iptv.org
Federal Money Flows Again Following Failed Filibuster.
kwtx.com
President Barack Obama has signed a $10 billion stopgap bill passed in the Senate after mounting pressures forced a Republican filibuster to fold.
kwtx.com
Senate Lawyers Want Filibuster Challenge Dismissed.
whsv.com
***

Related words