Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A government project or appropriation that yields jobs or other benefits to a specific locale and patronage opportunities to its political representative.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a legislative appropriation designed to ingratiate legislators with their constituents
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[From pork barrel, barrel for storing pork, supply of money.]
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word pork barrel.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
treeseed commented on the word pork barrel
A pork barrel, literally, is a barrel in which pork is kept. The term is more commonly used as a political metaphor for the appropriation of government spending for projects that are intended primarily to benefit particular constituents or campaign contributors. This usage originated in American English.
_Wikipedia
February 7, 2008