English
carpetbagger
Pronunciation
  • (British) IPA: /ˈkɑːpɪtbaɡə/
Noun

carpetbagger (plural carpetbaggers)

  1. (politics, history, chiefly, US) An immigrant from the Northern to the Southern States after the American Civil War of 1861–5, especially one who went South to gain political influence.
    • 2012, William A. Blair, Journal of the Civil War Era: Winter 2012 Issue, UNC Press Books (ISBN 9780807852668), page 539
      quote en
  2. (pejorative, by extension) One who comes to a place or organisation with which they have no previous connection with the sole or primary aim of personal gain, especially political or financial gain.
    Though he lived and worked in Los Angeles for sixteen years, the candidate for Attorney General is no carpetbagger; he was born and raised in this state and graduated from the state university.
    He's just a carpetbagger who was surprised to find that Southerns are not like the cast of “The Dukes of Hazzard” or “Deliverance”.
    • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 339:
      quote en
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