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- Dictionarypanjandrum/panˈdʒandrəm/
noun
- 1. a person who has or claims to have a great deal of authority or influence: "the greatest scientific panjandrum of the 19th century"
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: a powerful personage or pretentious official. Did you know? Panjandrum looks like it might be a combination of Latin and Greek roots, but in fact it is a nonsense word coined by British actor and playwright Samuel Foote around 1755.
Jun 2, 2024 · panjandrum (plural panjandrums or panjandra) An important, powerful or influential person; muckamuck . A self-important or pretentious person. ( military) A massive, rocket -propelled, explosive -laden cart designed by the British military during World War II.
Jun 16, 2024 · a pompous self-important official or person of rank. Collins English Dictionary. Copyright © HarperCollins Publishers. Word origin. C18: after a character, the Grand Panjandrum, in a nonsense work (1755) by Samuel Foote, English playwright and actor. Word Frequency. panjandrum in American English. (pænˈdʒændrəm ) noun.
Something about the word panjandrum suggests subcontinental origin, but it's actually a made-up word from the eighteenth century, designating an important and often overbearing person. The word was also commandeered in World War II to refer to a failed experimental weapon meant to breach sea walls.
Panjandrum definition: a self-important or pretentious official.. See examples of PANJANDRUM used in a sentence.
pan·jan·drum. (păn-jăn′drəm) n. An important or self-important person: "a panjandrum of the publishing business" (Nat Hentoff). [After the Grand Panjandrum, , a character in a nonsense farrago written by Samuel Foote (1720-1777) .]
All you need to know about "PANJANDRUM" in one place: definitions, pronunciations, synonyms, grammar insights, collocations, examples, and translations.
A person who has or claims to have a great deal of authority or influence. The word comes from Grand Panjandrum, an invented phrase in a nonsense passage composed in 1755 by the English actor and dramatist Samuel Foote (1720–77) to test the vaunted memory of the actor Charles Macklin (1697?–1797).
The earliest known use of the noun panjandrum is in the 1820s. OED's earliest evidence for panjandrum is from 1825, in the writing of Maria Edgeworth, novelist and educationist. panjandrum is apparently formed within English, by compounding.
A complete guide to the word "PANJANDRUM": definitions, pronunciations, synonyms, grammar insights, collocations, examples, and translations.
