Boycott

Boycott. Captain Boycott, the agent of an Irish landlord in Connemara, having had disagreements with the tenantry in 1880, the whole population of the neighbourhood refused to have any dealings whatever with him. Hence his name was applied both as a noun and a verb to this practice, common in Ireland during the agrarian agitation, 1880-1890, defined by Mr. Gladstone as "exclusive dealing," and by Mr. Parnell as "leaving severely alone." It speedily passed to the United States, and has since been a common feature of labour disputes.