muckamuck

See also: muck-a-muck

English

Alternative forms

• muck-a-muck
• muckety muck, muckety-muck
• muckey-muck, mucky-muck, mucky muck

Etymology

Borrowed from Chinook Jargon muckamuck (“food”). In the sense "person of authority", it is short for "high muckamuck", from Chinook Jargon hayo muckamuck (“plenty to eat, plenty of food; to eat”). See muckety muck. The ultimate source of the word is unclear; it is possible it was invented in Chinook Jargon rather than taken into the jargon from another language.

Noun

muckamuck (countable and uncountable, plural muckamucks)

1. (countable, colloquial, sometimes derogatory, originally US) A person in a position of power or authority, or of high status.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:important person

   • 1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Grove Press, published 1961, page 191:

     I think it was the Fourth of July when they took the chair from under my ass again. Not a word of warning. One of the big muck-a-mucks from the other side of the water had decided to make economies; […]

   • 1991, Norman Mailer, Harlot's Ghost, Random House, →ISBN, page 915:

     Allen had the wit—God, I love that man when he's at his best—to invite all the new Kennedy muckamucks to an evening with a number of us at the Alibi Club.

2. (uncountable, US, dialectal, possibly dated) Food.
   • 1884, Newton H. Chittenden, Official report of the exploration of the Queen Charlotte Islands, page 69:

     She apparently has her own way in everything now, the old chief being quite satisfied to get his rations of muckamuck and tobacco without troubling himself as to how it is provided.

   • 1906, The Coast, volumes 11-12, page 160:

     But old Halascum once, under the mellowing influence of having sold some furs, and seeing the great quantities of muckamuck, or goodly things to eat, which his prize had furnished, was led to tell the mystery […]

Translations

person in a position of authority — see big cheese

Further reading

• “muck-a-muck n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present
• “muckamuck”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Chinook Jargon

Verb

muckamuck

1. eating

Noun

muckamuck

1. food