filibuster
Meanings
noun
- A mercenary soldier; a freebooter; specifically, a mercenary who travelled illegally in an organized group from the United States to a country in Central America or the Spanish West Indies in the mid-19th century seeking economic and political benefits through armed force.
- A tactic (such as giving long, often irrelevant speeches) employed to delay the proceedings of, or the making of a decision by, a legislative body, particularly the United States Senate.
- A member of a legislative body causing such an obstruction.
verb
- To take part in a private military action in a foreign country.
- To use obstructionist tactics in a legislative body.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish filibustero (“pirate”), from French flibustier, ultimately from Dutch vrijbuiter (“freebooter”), from vrij (“free”) + buit (“booty”) + -er (“agent”). The alteration in the first syllable in French is due to the word's being somewhat conflated with vlieboot (“light, flat-bottomed cargo vessel with two or three masts”) when it was borrowed into French or another language from Dutch. The word is cognate and analogous to English freebooter.
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