Mugwump

Origin of: Mugwump

Mugwump

In the lead-up to the British general election in 2017, Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson described the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a muttonheaded mugwump. The word mugwump sent everyone scurrying to dictionaries to look up the meaning. Mugwump is an American word first cited from the 1830s and means someone who cannot make up their mind on important issues, especially in politics. The word derives from the Native American Algonquin language where mugquomp means an important person, usually in a derogatory or ironical sense. The word was extensively used in the US presidential election of 1884 when Republicans who refused to support Blaine’s Republican candidacy were called mugwumps.