boycott English · revision 154

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈbɔɪkɒt/ ''(UK)''; /ˈbɔɪkɑt/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ From the name of Captain Charles C. Boycott (1832–1897), an English land agent in Ireland,^(AHD)^(RHWU) who in 1880 was ostracized by the Irish Land League for refusing to lower his tenants' rents.^(Etymonline)^(Wiktionary) The family name is from a place in England.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ To combine in refusing all dealings with someone, as a punishment for political or other differences (1880).^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Boycott, the estate agent of an absentee landlord in County Mayo, was chosen in the autumn of 1880 as a test case for Charles Parnell's land-reform campaign.^(AHD) After he refused to lower rents and evicted tenants, he and his family were left without servants, farmhands, service in shops, or mail.^(AHD) His name was quickly adopted for this treatment in other languages, including French, Dutch, German, and Russian,^(AHD) and even Japanese.^(Etymonline) By 1881 the verb was used figuratively.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1880 – verb and noun.^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1881 – figurative use.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To refuse, together with others, to buy from, use, or deal with a person, company, or country, as a protest or to force change.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # An act or campaign of boycotting.^(AHD)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[boycotter]]

+ * [[proboycott]]

+ * [[antiboycott]]

+ * [[secondary boycott]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[embargo]]

+ * [[blacklist]]