English

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Etymology

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Blend of Uncle Sam +‎ sugar daddy. Popularized by Mike Huckabee, though not original to him.

Proper noun

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Uncle Sugar

  1. (chiefly Southern US) A personification of the American welfare state.
    • 2004, Shane Russell, Living Hell[1], page 25:
      Uncle Sugar provides well for me. Because of Uncle Sugar I have a good education and the opportunity to retire when I'm thirty-five years old."
    • 2014, Mike Huckabee, God, Guns, Grits and Gravy[2], page 102:
      [An Obama campaign ad] depicted a woman named Julia who from cradle to grave was dependent on all things "government" and could live her life only with the ever-present and all-guiding hand of Uncle Sugar.

See also

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