Word.ws English Dictionary

locofoco

locofoco noun: a member of the Locofoco faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s. Also the archaic abbreviation of locofoco match.

Noun (1)

locofoco (plural locofocos)

  1. (US, historical) A member of the Locofoco faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s.
  2. (US, archaic, derogatory, usually) Synonym of Democrat, any member of the US Democratic Party.
    Synonyms:
    Democrat, any member of the US Democratic Party
  3. (US) Anyone considered to subscribe to Locofocoism, the general political platform or philosophy of the Locofoco faction.

Noun (2) capitalized: Locofoco

Locofoco (plural Locofocos)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of locofoco, especially (historical, US politics) a member of the Locofoco faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s.

Also used as

locofoco is also the archaic abbreviation of locofoco match.

Synonyms of locofoco

  • Democrat
  • any member of the US Democratic Party

Forms of locofoco

plurallocofocos
alternative formloco-foco
alternative formLocofoco
alternative formLoco-foco
alternative formLoco-Foco
alternative formloco
pluralLocofocos

Origin of locofoco

From Latin locus (“place; cause”) and focus (“hearth; fire”), although possibly prompted by misunderstanding the prefix of locomotive (itself from locus) as instead meaning something like self- or auto-. In reference to the NY political faction, derived from the use of locofoco matches to light candles and continue a meeting the rival Tammany Hall faction had attempted to end by killing the meeting place's gaslights. Often folk etymologized to derive from Spanish loco (“crazy”).

Words formed from locofoco

Questions about locofoco

What does locofoco mean?
Locofoco means a member of the Locofoco faction of the New York Democratic Party in the 1830s and 1840s.
What part of speech is locofoco?
Locofoco is a noun.
What is the plural of locofoco?
The plural of locofoco is locofocos.

Words near locofoco in the dictionary

  1. Lococo
  2. Lococos
  3. locodescriptive
  4. locoed
  5. locoes
  6. locofoco
  7. Locofocoism
  8. locofocos
  9. locoing
  10. locoism
  11. locoman

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: locofoco (page history and authors); Locofoco (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “locofoco.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/locofoco. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.