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filibuster definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a legislator who gives long speeches in an effort to delay or obstruct legislation that he (or she) opposes [syn: filibuster, filibusterer]
2: (law) a tactic for delaying or obstructing legislation by making long speeches v
1: obstruct deliberately by delaying

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Spanish filibustero, literally, freebooter Date: 1851 1. an irregular military adventurer; specifically an American engaged in fomenting insurrections in Latin America in the mid-19th century 2. [filibuster (II)] a. the use of extreme dilatory tactics in an attempt to delay or prevent action especially in a legislative assembly b. an instance of this practice II. verb (-tered; filibustering) Date: 1851 intransitive verb 1. to carry out insurrectionist activities in a foreign country 2. to engage in a filibuster transitive verb to subject to a filibuster • filibusterer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a the obstruction of progress in a legislative assembly, esp. by prolonged speaking. b esp. US a person who engages in a filibuster. 2 esp. hist. a person engaging in unauthorized warfare against a foreign State. --v. 1 intr. act as a filibuster. 2 tr. act in this way against (a motion etc.). Derivatives: filibusterer n. Etymology: ult. f. Du. vrijbuiter FREEBOOTER, infl. by F flibustier, Sp. filibustero

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Filibuster Fil"i*bus`ter, n. [Sp. flibuster, flibustero, corrupted fr. E. freebooter. See Freebooter.] 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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Filibuster Fil"i*bus*ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fillibustered; p. pr. & vb. n. Filibustering.] 1. To act as a filibuster, or military freebooter. --Bartlett. 2. To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices. [political cant or slang, U.S.] --Bartlett.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(filibusters, filibustering, filibustered) 1. A filibuster is a long slow speech made to use up time so that a vote cannot be taken and a law cannot be passed. (mainly AM) Senator Seymour has threatened a filibuster to block the bill. N-COUNT 2. If a politician filibusters, he or she makes a long slow speech in order to use up time so that a vote cannot be taken and a law cannot be passed. (mainly AM) They simply threatened to filibuster until the Senate adjourns... A group of senators plans to filibuster a measure that would permit drilling in Alaska. VERB: V, V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Pirate, freebooter, buccaneer, sea-robber, sea-rover. 2. [Recent.] Lawless adventurer.

Moby Thesaurus

address, after-dinner speech, allocution, be dilatory, chalk talk, cloture, committee consideration, constitute, debate, declamation, decree, deliberation, diatribe, division, enact, enact laws, eulogy, exhortation, filibusterer, filibustering, filing, first reading, forensic, forensic address, formal speech, frustrater, funeral oration, gain time, get the floor, hang, hang back, hang fire, harangue, have the floor, hesitate, hinderer, hold off, hortatory address, impeder, inaugural, inaugural address, introduction, invective, jeremiad, kill, legislate, lobby through, logroll, logrolling, make time, marplot, negativist, obstructer, obstructionist, oration, ordain, outlast, outspeak, outtalk, pass, pep talk, peroration, philippic, pigeonhole, pitch, play for time, pocket, prepared speech, prepared text, procrastinate, public speech, put in force, put through, railroad through, reading, recital, recitation, roll call, roll logs, sales talk, salutatory, salutatory address, say, screed, second reading, set speech, speech, speechification, speeching, stall, stall for time, stall off, steamroller methods, stooge around, table, tabling, take the floor, talk, talk against time, talk down, talkathon, temporize, third reading, thwarter, tirade, valediction, valedictory, valedictory address, veto, vote, yield the floor