Dictionary

panjandrum en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /pænˈd͡ʒæn.dɹəm/ (UK, US)

Etymology

Coined as a nonce word in the 18th century by British dramatist Samuel Foote.

Meanings

1. An important, powerful or influential person; muckamuck.
   • 1910, Eliakim Littell, Making of America Project, Robert S. Littell, Living age ... (Littell's Living Age), Volume 265, page 809, I think it's an excellent thing that the Great Panjandrum is coming for the week-end. Have you ever met him in private?" I ought to explain that the Great Panjandrum was the nickname for Lord Elkindale, the then Foreign Secretary.
   • To show that the panjandrums are worthy of their glory, the annual report has to show how well the business has done, regardless of the actual results. 2012, Jo Owen, Management Stripped Bare:
   • His Jerusalem visit helped him refine his unique hybrid mystique as a Tory aristocrat and exotic Jewish panjandrum, convinced him that Britain had a role in the Middle East—and let him dream of a return to Zion. 2011, Simon Sebag Montefiore, Jerusalem: The Biography – A History of the Middle East, page 390:
   • But my family has served the Panjandrums of Beotia faithfully for seven centuries. The Panjandrums have kept our place for us at their courts, honored us, promoted us, shed their glory on us, made us what we are. 1917, George Bernard Shaw, Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress:
   • The blame is shifted from 'the people who practise other religions' to the 'officious Left-wing panjandrums,' a term which conflates two criticisms into one from the point of view of this newspapaer: one that such deciisons are in themselves 'Left-wing' and the second that they are 'officious'. 2013, Martin Conboy, The Language of the News, page 154:
   • The territory I had sold him was largely occupied by the Duke of Oklahoma, and, no doubt, by other potentates and panjandrums unknown to me. 1976, Kurt Vonnegut, chapter 49, in Slapstick, Delacorte Press, page 228:
   • Silicon Valley panjandrums spent the 2010s lecturing American workers in dying industries that they needed to “learn to code.” 2026 March 12, Clive Thompson, “Coding After Coders: The End of Computer Programming as We Know It”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • 1755, Samuel Foote, The Grand Panjandrum (a nonsense poem written to test actor Charles Macklin's claim that he could accurately recite any paragraph of text after a single reading), So he died, / and she very imprudently married the Barber: / and there were present / the Picninnies, / and the Joblillies, / and the Garyulies, / and the grand Panjandrum himself, / with the little round button at top;
2. A self-important or pretentious person.
   • You can never imagine how delighted I was to find that instead of being the correct sort of big panjandrum you were supposed to be, you were really an old rip like papa. 1910, George Bernard Shaw, Misalliance:
3. (historical) A massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II.
   • The Panjandrum lurched and overturned, the crash dislodging several of the rockets, which flew low over the beach in all directions […]. 1967, John Winton, The War At Sea, 1939-1945: An Anthology of Personal Experience, page 304:
   • The idea was that the Panjandrum, a kind of explosion-driven Ferris wheel, would be set rotating and then released into shallow water to roll up onto enemy beaches. 2003, Neil A. Downie, chapter 14, in Ink Sandwiches, Electric Worms, and 37 Other Experiments for Saturday Science, →ISBN, page 115:

Forms

Synonyms

baron · macher · heavy hitter · somebody · big cheese · boss · big name · high muckety-muck · bigwig · wheel · numero uno · mugwump · king of the castle · top gun · top boy · king of the hill · big enchilada · top banana · top dog · big kahuna · muckamuck · mayor · grand poobah · king of all one surveys · rooster · big shot · poobah · VIP · high muckamuck · muckety muck · big gun · head honcho · big man · panjandrum · heavyweight · top cat · big wheel · very important person · kingpin · big noise

Translations (22)

kmr giremirov (important, powerful or influential person) · fi kiho (important, powerful or influential person) · fr manitou (important, powerful or influential person) · fr ponte (important, powerful or influential person) · it presuntuosa (self-important or pretentious person) · cy pwysigyn (important, powerful or influential person) · fi vaikuttaja (important, powerful or influential person) · fi lesottaja (self-important or pretentious person) · it pezzo grosso (important, powerful or influential person) · it arrogante (self-important or pretentious person) · sv högdjur (important, powerful or influential person) · et tähtis tegelane (important, powerful or influential person) · it presuntuoso (self-important or pretentious person) · de hohes Tier (important, powerful or influential person) · sv höjdare (important, powerful or influential person) · ga boc mór (important, powerful or influential person) · kmr zirkerdar (important, powerful or influential person) · sv småpåve (self-important or pretentious person) · cmn 大人 (important, powerful or influential person) · cs náfuka (self-important or pretentious person) · et suur nina (self-important or pretentious person) · cs papaláš (important, powerful or influential person)