mogul
UK /ˈməʊɡəl/ · US /ˈmoʊɡəl/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of Moghul
Forms moguls moguling mogulling moguled mogulled
- noun A rich or powerful person; a magnate, nabob. “a Silicon Valley tech mogul”
- noun (skiing) A hump or bump on a skiing piste.
- noun A larger-sized (39 mm diameter) screw base used for large, high-power light bulbs, known as mogul (screw) base light bulbs.
- noun A machine that forms shaped candies from syrups or gels.
- verb (skiing) To ski over a course of humps or bumps.
- noun (rail transport) A steam locomotive of the 2-6-0 wheel arrangement.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Washoe County, Nevada, United States.
Synonyms
magnate tycoon captain of industry Moghul baron big businessman business leader king power top executive
Etymology
Figurative use of Moghul, which originally meant Mongol, or person of Mongolian descent. In this context, it refers to the Mughal Empire (Mughal being Persian or Arabic for "Mongol") of the Indian subcontinent that existed between 1526 and 1857: the early Mughal emperors claimed a heritage dating back to the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. The modern meaning of the word is supposedly derived from the storied riches of the Mughal emperors, which, for example, produced the Taj Mahal.
From dialectal German Mugel or from dialectal Norwegian mugje (“heap, mound”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A person of the Mongolian race.
- noun A heavy locomotive for freight traffic, having three pairs of connected driving wheels and a two-wheeled truck. Great, or Grand, Mogul, the sovereign of the empire founded in Hindostan by the Mongols under Baber in the sixteenth century. Hence, a very important personage; a lord; --sometimes only mogul. Dryden.
Etymology [From the Mongolian.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mogul”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details