Locofoco

See also: locofoco

English

Etymology

From locofoco (“a match”); the term originated when a group of New York Jacksonians used such matches to light candles to continue a political meeting after Tammany men tried to break up the meeting by turning off the gaslights.

Noun

Locofoco (plural Locofocos)

1. (US, politics, historical) A member of a faction of the US Democratic Party in the early 1800s, formed in New York City as a protest against that city's regular Democratic organization, Tammany Hall.