Adjacent Words

lobby definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a large entrance or reception room or area [syn: anteroom, antechamber, entrance hall, hall, foyer, lobby, vestibule]
2: the people who support some common cause or business or principle or sectional interest
3: a group of people who try actively to influence legislation [syn: lobby, pressure group, third house] v
1: detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors [syn: lobby, buttonhole]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural lobbies) Etymology: Medieval Latin lobium gallery, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German louba porch Date: 1593 1. a corridor or hall connected with a larger room or series of rooms and used as a passageway or waiting room: as a. an anteroom of a legislative chamber; especially one of two anterooms of a British parliamentary chamber to which members go to vote during a division b. a large hall serving as a foyer (as of a hotel or theater) 2. a group of persons engaged in lobbying especially as representatives of a particular interest group II. verb (lobbied; lobbying) Date: 1837 intransitive verb to conduct activities aimed at influencing public officials and especially members of a legislative body on legislation transitive verb 1. to promote (as a project) or secure the passage of (as legislation) by influencing public officials 2. to attempt to influence or sway (as a public official) toward a desired action • lobbyer noun • lobbyism noun • lobbyist noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. (pl. -ies) 1 a porch, ante-room, entrance-hall, or corridor. 2 a (in the House of Commons) a large hall used esp. for interviews between MPs and members of the public. b (also division lobby) each of two corridors to which MPs retire to vote. 3 a a body of persons seeking to influence legislators on behalf of a particular interest (the anti-abortion lobby). b an organized attempt by members of the public to influence legislators (a lobby of MPs). 4 (prec. by the) (in the UK) a group of journalists who receive unattributable briefings from the government (lobby correspondent). --v. (-ies, -ied) 1 tr. solicit the support of (an influential person). 2 tr. (of members of the public) seek to influence (the members of a legislature). 3 intr. frequent a parliamentary lobby. 4 tr. (foll. by through) get (a bill etc.) through a legislature, by interviews etc. in the lobby. Derivatives: lobbyer n. lobbyism n. lobbyist n. Etymology: med.L lobia, lobium LODGE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lobby Lob"by, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lobbied; p. pr. & vb. n. Lobbying.] To address or solicit members of a legislative body in the lobby or elsewhere, with the purpose to influence their votes.[U.S.] --Bartlett.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lobby Lob"by, v. t. To urge the adoption or passage of by soliciting members of a legislative body; as, to lobby a bill. [U.S.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lobby Lob"by, n.; pl. Lobbies. [LL. lobium, lobia, laubia, a covered portico fit for walking, fr. OHG. louba, G. laube, arbor. See Lodge.] 1. (Arch.) A passage or hall of communication, especially when large enough to serve also as a waiting room. It differs from an antechamber in that a lobby communicates between several rooms, an antechamber to one only; but this distinction is not carefully preserved. 2. That part of a hall of legislation not appropriated to the official use of the assembly; hence, the persons, collectively, who frequent such a place to transact business with the legislators; any persons, not members of a legislative body, who strive to influence its proceedings by personal agency

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(lobbies, lobbying, lobbied) Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. If you lobby someone such as a member of a government or council, you try to persuade them that a particular law should be changed or that a particular thing should be done. Carers from all over the UK lobbied Parliament last week to demand a better financial deal... Gun control advocates are lobbying hard for new laws... VERB: V n, V for/against n • lobbying The aid was frozen in June after intense lobbying by conservative Republicans. N-UNCOUNT 2. A lobby is a group of people who represent a particular organization or campaign, and try to persuade a government or council to help or support them. He set up this lobby of independent producers. N-COUNT: usu with supp, oft supp N, N of n 3. In a hotel or other large building, the lobby is the area near the entrance that usually has corridors and staircases leading off it. I met her in the lobby of the museum. N-COUNT

Moby Thesaurus

Rasputin, Svengali, VIP, access, act on, advocate, approach, bad influence, bear upon, big wheel, blandish, cajole, call on, call upon, coax, constitute, corridor, court, decree, draw, draw on, eminence grise, enact, enact laws, entrance, entrance hall, entranceway, entry, entryway, exert influence, exhort, filibuster, five-percenter, foyer, friend at court, galilee, get cozy with, get the floor, good influence, gray eminence, hall, hallway, have the floor, heavyweight, hidden hand, high-pressure, importune, influence, influence peddler, influencer, ingroup, insist, insist upon, jawbone, key, kill, kingmaker, lead on, legislate, legislative lobby, lobby through, lobbyer, lobbyist, logroll, lords of creation, magnetize, make advances, make overtures, make up to, man of influence, manipulator, nag, narthex, open sesame, ordain, parliamentary agent, pass, persuade, pigeonhole, plead with, pocket, portal, portico, powers that be, press, pressure, pressure group, promote, propylaeum, pull strings, push, put in force, put through, railroad through, reception room, recommend, registered lobbyist, roll logs, sinister influence, soft-soap, special interests, special-interest group, special-interest lobby, stoa, sway, sweet-talk, table, take the floor, the Establishment, threshold, urge, very important person, vestibule, veto, wheedle, wheeler-dealer, wire-pull, wire-puller, work on, yield the floor