Lobby
['lɒbɪ] or ['lɑbi]
Definition
(noun.) a group of people who try actively to influence legislation.
(noun.) the people who support some common cause or business or principle or sectional interest.
(verb.) detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors.
Edited by Fred--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A passage or hall of communication, especially when large enough to serve also as a waiting room. It differs from an antechamber in that a lobby communicates between several rooms, an antechamber to one only; but this distinction is not carefully preserved.
(n.) That part of a hall of legislation not appropriated to the official use of the assembly; hence, the persons, collectively, who frequent such a place to transact business with the legislators; any persons, not members of a legislative body, who strive to influence its proceedings by personal agency.
(n.) An apartment or passageway in the fore part of an old-fashioned cabin under the quarter-deck.
(n.) A confined place for cattle, formed by hedges. trees, or other fencing, near the farmyard.
(v. i.) To address or solicit members of a legislative body in the lobby or elsewhere, with the purpose to influence their votes.
(v. t.) To urge the adoption or passage of by soliciting members of a legislative body; as, to lobby a bill.
Editor: Ned
Definition
n. a small hall or waiting-room: a passage serving as a common entrance to several apartments: the ante-chamber of a legislative hall frequented by outsiders for the purpose of influencing votes.—ns. Lobb′ying frequenting the lobby to collect political intelligence &c.; Lobb′yist Lobb′y-mem′ber a journalist &c. who frequents a lobby in the interest of some cause or of a newspaper.
Editor: Orville
Examples
- Last night, in Drury Lane lobby, I ran against Sir John Middleton, and when he saw who I wasfor the first time these two monthshe spoke to me. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- The turnkeys in the prison lobby took off their hats as it passed through, and in another moment the heavy gate closed behind it. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Tantripp had brought a card, and said that there was a gentleman waiting in the lobby. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- The bustle in the vestibule, as she passed along an inner lobby, assured her that they were already in the house. Jane Austen. Sense and Sensibility.
- Give me your arm, Captain George; and so saying, and with a nod to the General, she tripped into the lobby. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- George parted from them and strutted down the lobby to the General's box, the number of which he had carefully counted. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- He met Crawley in the lobby, however, where they exchanged a few sentences upon the occurrences of the last fortnight. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Veneering pervades the legislative lobbies, intent upon entrapping his fellow-legislators to dinner. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- The performance over, the young fellows lounged about the lobbies, and we saw the society take its departure. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Checked by Clive