#2 (permalink) Tue Dec 15, 2009 19:49 pm Usage of boycutt |
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boycott (verb) - boycotted, boycotting, boycotts To abstain from or act together in abstaining from using, buying, or dealing with as an expression of protest or disfavor or as a means of coercion. . (noun) - The act or an instance of boycotting.
Word History: Charles C. Boycott seems to have become a household word because of his strong sense of duty to his employer. An Englishman and former British soldier, Boycott was the estate agent of the Earl of Erne in County Mayo, Ireland. The earl was one of the absentee landowners who as a group held most of the land in Ireland. Boycott was chosen in the fall of 1880 to be the test case for a new policy advocated by Charles Parnell, an Irish politician who wanted land reform. Any landlord who would not charge lower rents or any tenant who took over the farm of an evicted tenant would be given the complete cold shoulder by Parnell's supporters. Boycott refused to charge lower rents and ejected his tenants. At this point members of Parnell's Irish Land League stepped in, and Boycott and his family found themselves isolated without servants, farmhands, service in stores, or mail delivery. Boycott's name was quickly adopted as the term for this treatment, not just in English but in other languages such as French, Dutch, German, and Russian.
Examples: The Obama administration may send a delegation to the U.N. World Conference on Racism after saying in February it would boycott the event for inciting the very thing it is supposed to stamp out.
Dunkin' Donuts pulled the ad after talk of a boycott broke out.
At the University of California at Berkeley administrators canceled a scheduled speech by black activist Stokely Carmichael, leading to a boycott of classes by black, Hispanic, Asian, and the very few American Indian students on the campus.
http://www.americancorpus.org/ _________________ con·text - The part of a text or statement that surrounds a particular word or passage and determines its meaning. |
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Milanya I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 29 Dec 2008 Posts: 923 Location: Texas, USA (at present)
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