U.S. [f. BOSS sb.6 + -ISM.] The system in which political parties are controlled by ‘bosses’ or ‘wire-pullers.’
1875. St. Louis Dispatch, 15 April, 2/1. And now the Kansas City Journal takes up the cry of Bossism in the St. Louis Common council.
1881. Scribner’s Mag., Aug., 616. The event shows also that the days of ‘bossism’ are closing.
1883. American, VI. 88. If Bossism and Hubbellism were found … to be still the potential forces.
