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locofoco.

Short for locofoco match, a strike-anywhere phosphorus match.

8 characters4 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. Short for locofoco match, a strike-anywhere phosphorus match.

    abbreviation · alt-of · archaic
  2. A member of the Locofoco faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s.

    US · historical
  3. Synonym of Democrat, any member of the US Democratic Party.

    US · archaic · derogatory · usually
  4. Anyone considered to subscribe to Locofocoism, the general political platform or philosophy of the Locofoco faction.

    US
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *stel-der. Proto-Italic *stlokos? Old Latin stlocus Latin locus Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂-der.? Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ-der.? Latin focus English locofoco From Latin locus (“place; cause”) and focus (“hearth; fire”), although possibly prompted by misunderstanding the prefix of locomotive (itself from locus) as instead meaning something like self- or auto-. In reference to the NY political faction, derived from the use of locofoco matches to light candles and continue a meeting the rival Tammany Hall faction had attempted to end by killing the meeting place's gaslights. Often folk etymologized to derive from Spanish loco (“crazy”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.