roorbach

English

Alternative forms

roorback

Etymology

Originated in the election canvass of 1844, when such a forgery was published, to the detriment of James K. Polk, purporting to be an extract from the Travels of Baron Roorbach.

Noun

roorbach (plural roorbachs)

(US, dated) A defamatory forgery or falsehood published for purposes of political intrigue.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “roorbach”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)