Uncle Sam

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English

WOTD – 4 July 2021

Etymology

James Montgomery Flagg’s 1917 United States Army recruitment poster featuring Uncle Sam.

From uncle +‎ Sam (diminutive of the male name Samuel), probably based on the initialism U.S. of the United States. While folk etymology suggests that the term was named after Samuel Wilson (1766–1854), a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied the United States Army with canned meat during the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, the Oxford English Dictionary notes there is no evidence that this is the case.

Pronunciation

Proper noun

Uncle Sam

  1. (colloquial, originally US) A personification of the United States federal government or (rare) citizens.
    Uncle Sam needs brave men and women to enlist in the Army.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “Uncle Sam, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, September 2019; “Uncle Sam, proper n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

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