Part of Speech: noun
Pronunciation: ['boi-kaht]
Definition: A concerted refusal to do business with a person or organization, usually to express disapproval of conditions or policies.
Usage: The literal use of this word, as in, "So long as the Almighty Dollar（万能的金元） speaketh, the boycott will remain an effective way of getting a company's attention," is always available. But in the spirit of "think global, nag local," one could say, "Jacob is boycotting the company of his grandchildren until they stop listening to hip-hop" (he won't be seeing them for awhile).
Suggested Usage: The noun and verb of today's word are the same: "boycott." A person who refuses to do business because of principles is a boycotter.
Etymology: Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, a land agent in County Mayo, Ireland in the 1880s, is the eponym of today's word. Boycott worked for an absentee English landlord and was ruthless in his treatment of tenants. He became the target of Charles Parnell, an Irish activist set on reforming the laws of land ownership. Parnell incited Boycott's native employees to refuse to cooperate, next stores refused to serve his family, then the post refused to deliver mail, until finally the entire community shunned the Boycott family in the manner now manifest in today's word. Today's word, by the way, appears in virtually every European and in many other languages around the world.
boycott \BOY-kaht\ verb: to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to force acceptance of certain conditions
Example sentence: The group boycotted the clothing company to protest its practice of employing sweatshop labor.
Did you know? In the 1870s, Irish farmers faced an agricultural crisis that threatened to result in a repeat of the terrible famine and mass evictions of the 1840s. Anticipating financial ruin, they formed a Land League to campaign against the rent increases and evictions landlords were imposing as a result of the crisis. Retired British army captain Charles Boycott had the misfortune to be acting as an agent for an absentee landlord at the time, and when he tried to evict tenant farmers for refusing to pay their rent, he was ostracized by the League and community. His laborers and servants quit, and his crops began to rot. Boycott's fate was soon well known, and his name became a byword for that particular protest strategy.
*Indicates the sense illustrated in the example sentence.
0 评论:
发表评论