The first minister said the term as defined in the dictionary meant an "overbearing wielder of petty authority" and insisted it was used in public parlance a number of times.

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The bell may have tolled for the term when it was added to the Merriam Webster dictionary in 2006, or maybe two years later when Mitt Romney uttered the word on the campaign trail.

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When one comes across an unfamiliar word, it is customary to consult a dictionary for illumination of the meaning of the unfamiliar term.

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According to Dictionary.com, the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, included the term with essentially the same definition in 2000.

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"Researchers are committed to a long term study of HSL with the goals of producing ... a dictionary (and) archived videotaped data, " s aid James Woodward, an Adjunct Professor of Linguistics at the University of Hawaii at Mano.

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