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poobah

noun
/ˈpuːbɑː/

Etymology

From Pooh-Bah, a comic character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado (1885), formed as pooh + bah, both expressing contempt. The character of W. S. Gilbert's libretto is preceded by the character Pish-Tush-Pooh-Bah (described as “haughty”) in “King Borriah Bungalee Boo” (1866), one of the Bab Ballads, with pish and tush being two other terms of contempt.

  1. borrowed from bah
  2. compounded as poobah — “pooh + bah”

Definitions

  1. A person who holds multiple offices or positions of power at the same time.

  2. A leader or other important person.

    • ‘I said pooh-pooh,’ Duxmann Pooh Bah said.

  3. A pompous, self-important person.

The neighborhood

Derived

grand poobah

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for poobah. 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