"poobah" meaning in English

See poobah in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈpuːbɑː/ Audio: en-us-poobah.ogg , en-au-poobah.ogg Forms: poobahs [plural]
Etymology: From Pooh-Bah, a comic character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado (1885), formed as pooh + bah, both expressing contempt. Libretto by W. S. Gilbert, preceded by character Pish-Tush-Pooh-Bah (described as “haughty”) in “King Borriah Bungalee Boo” (1866), one of the Bab Ballads, with pish and tush other terms of contempt. Etymology templates: {{compound|en|pooh|bah}} pooh + bah Head templates: {{en-noun}} poobah (plural poobahs)
  1. A person who holds multiple offices or positions of power at the same time. Categories (topical): People
    Sense id: en-poobah-en-noun-8MahmGbG Disambiguation of People: 98 0 2 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 7 40 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 60 7 33 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 67 6 28
  2. A leader or other important person.
    Sense id: en-poobah-en-noun-GpRO0~YL
  3. A pompous, self-important person.
    Sense id: en-poobah-en-noun-k8Mh2BAe
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: pooh bah, pooh-bah, poo bah, poo-bah, Poo-Bah, Pooh-Bah Derived forms: grand poobah Related terms: dual mandate, nabob, tycoon

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "grand poobah"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pooh",
        "3": "bah"
      },
      "expansion": "pooh + bah",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Pooh-Bah, a comic character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado (1885), formed as pooh + bah, both expressing contempt. Libretto by W. S. Gilbert, preceded by character Pish-Tush-Pooh-Bah (described as “haughty”) in “King Borriah Bungalee Boo” (1866), one of the Bab Ballads, with pish and tush other terms of contempt.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poobahs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "poobah (plural poobahs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "dual mandate"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "nabob"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "tycoon"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "53 7 40",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "60 7 33",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "67 6 28",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "98 0 2",
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A person who holds multiple offices or positions of power at the same time."
      ],
      "id": "en-poobah-en-noun-8MahmGbG",
      "links": [
        [
          "multiple",
          "multiple"
        ],
        [
          "office",
          "office"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A leader or other important person."
      ],
      "id": "en-poobah-en-noun-GpRO0~YL"
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A pompous, self-important person."
      ],
      "id": "en-poobah-en-noun-k8Mh2BAe"
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpuːbɑː/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-poobah.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/05/En-us-poobah.ogg/En-us-poobah.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/En-us-poobah.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-poobah.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/56/En-au-poobah.ogg/En-au-poobah.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/En-au-poobah.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pooh bah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "pooh-bah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "poo bah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "poo-bah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "Poo-Bah"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "Pooh-Bah"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Bab Ballads",
    "The Mikado",
    "W. S. Gilbert"
  ],
  "word": "poobah"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English compound terms",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English eponyms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "en:People"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "grand poobah"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "pooh",
        "3": "bah"
      },
      "expansion": "pooh + bah",
      "name": "compound"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Pooh-Bah, a comic character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado (1885), formed as pooh + bah, both expressing contempt. Libretto by W. S. Gilbert, preceded by character Pish-Tush-Pooh-Bah (described as “haughty”) in “King Borriah Bungalee Boo” (1866), one of the Bab Ballads, with pish and tush other terms of contempt.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "poobahs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "poobah (plural poobahs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "dual mandate"
    },
    {
      "word": "nabob"
    },
    {
      "word": "tycoon"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A person who holds multiple offices or positions of power at the same time."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "multiple",
          "multiple"
        ],
        [
          "office",
          "office"
        ],
        [
          "position",
          "position"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A leader or other important person."
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A pompous, self-important person."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈpuːbɑː/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-poobah.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/0/05/En-us-poobah.ogg/En-us-poobah.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/En-us-poobah.ogg"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-au-poobah.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/56/En-au-poobah.ogg/En-au-poobah.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/En-au-poobah.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "pooh bah"
    },
    {
      "word": "pooh-bah"
    },
    {
      "word": "poo bah"
    },
    {
      "word": "poo-bah"
    },
    {
      "word": "Poo-Bah"
    },
    {
      "word": "Pooh-Bah"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Bab Ballads",
    "The Mikado",
    "W. S. Gilbert"
  ],
  "word": "poobah"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-12-04 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.