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corporate welfare bum

noun

Etymology

Coined in 1972 by Canadian labor leader and politician David Lewis (1909-1981). The term postdates welfare bum: it represents a blend of corporate welfare + welfare bum.

Definitions

  1. A business corporation or business executive receiving significant financial assistance…

    A business corporation or business executive receiving significant financial assistance from government sources.

    • [A]nother $8 million went to keep alive Quebecair, a corporate welfare bum if ever there was one.
    • Meanwhile: every telecomm company is as big a corporate welfare bum as you could ask for.
    • Elon Musk . . . is also — and this you read less about — a serial, almost kleptomaniacal, corporate welfare bum whose greatest talent seems to be sucking at the U.S. government’s teat for personal gain and glory.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for corporate welfare bum. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA