Dictionary

Pinkerton en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɪŋkətən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpɪŋkɚtən/ (General-American)

Etymology

Habitational surname from a place near Dunbar, from an unexplained first element + Old English tūn (“enclosure”). This surname is well established in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Meanings

1. (countable, dated) An operative employed by the Pinkerton National Detective Agency founded by Allan Pinkerton (1819–1884).
   • My heart wells up in admiration of the man, as I think of his participation in the memorable struggle of Homestead. He fought the Pinkertons, the myrmidons of Capital. 1912, Alexander Berkman, chapter 6, in Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist:
   • He joined the pickets in the bloody Homestead steel strike of 1892, and actually went so far as to jostle a Pinkerton. 1950 September 4, “Kiss the Donkey”, in Time:

Forms

Deriveds

Pinkerton syndrome · Pinkertonism · Pinkertonian

Pinkerton en · PROPN

Pronunciation

• /ˈpɪŋkətən/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈpɪŋkɚtən/ (General-American)

Etymology

Habitational surname from a place near Dunbar, from an unexplained first element + Old English tūn (“enclosure”). This surname is well established in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Meanings

1. A habitational surname from Old English.

Forms