lobby
UK /ˈlɒb.i/ · US /ˈlɑ.bi/ noun, verb
Forms lobbies lobbying lobbied
- noun An entryway or reception area; vestibule; passageway; corridor. “I had to wait in the lobby for hours before seeing the doctor.”
- noun That part of a hall of legislation not appropriated to the official use of the assembly.
- noun (politics) A class or group of interested people who try to influence public officials; collectively, lobbyists. “The influence of the tobacco lobby has decreased considerably in the US.”
- noun (videoconferencing) A virtual area where meeting attendees can await admittance from an authorized person.
- noun (video games) A virtual area where players can chat and find opponents for a game.
- noun (nautical) An apartment or passageway in the fore part of an old-fashioned cabin under the quarter-deck.
- noun A confined place for cattle, formed by hedges, trees, or other fencing, near the farmyard.
- noun A margin along either side of the playing field in the sport of kabaddi.
- verb (intransitive, transitive) To attempt to influence (a public official or decision-maker) in favor of a specific opinion or cause. “For years, pro-life groups have continued to lobby hard for restrictions on abortion.”
- noun (West Midlands, Potteries) lobscouse “My mam cooked us lobby for tea last night.”
Synonyms
special interest cowyard paddock anteroom antechamber entrance hall hall foyer vestibule pressure group third house buttonhole
Etymology
From Medieval Latin lobia, lobium, laubia (“a portico, covered way, gallery”), borrowed from Frankish *laubijā (“arbour, shelter”), related to Old English lēaf (“foliage”). More at leaf. Doublet of leaf, lodge, and loggia.
Political sense derives from the entrance hall of legislatures, where people traditionally tried to influence legislators because it was the most convenient place to meet them.
Shortened from lobscouse.
Webster’s 1913
- noun 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.
- noun 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. [U.S.]
- verb To address or solicit members of a legislative body in the lobby or elsewhere, with the purpose to influence their votes.[U.S.]
- verb To urge the adoption or passage of by soliciting members of a legislative body; as, to lobby a bill. [U.S.]
Etymology [LL. lobium, lobia, laubia, a covered portico fit for walking, fr. OHG.louba, G. laube, arbor. See Lodge.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “lobby”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details