Red Fedn.
/ˈrɛd ˌfɛd/, U.S. /ˈrɛd ˌfɛd/, New Zealand English /ˈred ˌfed/ New Zealand colloquial.
Originally: a member of the New Zealand Federation of Labour (founded in 1909). In later use (colloquial): a person who rebels against the established order; a left-winger.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > specific New Zealand principles, parties, or partisans
Red Fed1912
Red-Fedism1917
national1938
Nat1939
Socred1975
Rogernomics1985
Social Credit League1986
society > authority > rule or government > politics > party politics > groups or attitudes right to left > [noun] > the left > adherent(s) of
Red Guard1849
red1851
leftist1890
left winger1894
lefty1920
Red Fed1970
1912 N.Z. Free Lance (Wellington) 22 June 1 (Caption) A slap in the face for the ‘Red Feds’.
1914 Evening Post (Wellington, N.Z.) 14 Jan. 10/5 The charge you prefer against the ‘Red Feds’.
1916 Chrons. N.Z.E.F. 15 Nov. 134/1 I'll poke the fellow in the jaw that calls me a ‘Red Fed’.
1931 N. E. Coad Such is Life 24 They are on the look-out for Bolshevists, Red-Feds and I.W.W.s.
1948 D. Ballantyne Cunninghams i. xxxi. 152 That crazy young redfed..who landed himself in trouble over at the works with his gabbing.
1959 K. Sinclair Hist. N.Z. iii. 199 The ‘Red Fed's’ rejection of the principle of industrial arbitration.
1970 D. M. Davin Not here, not Now vi. i. 280 He sounded a bit of a red-fed, though. No time for Baldwin or any of that lot over in England.
2003 Christchurch Press (N.Z.) (Nexis) 13 Dec. 2 The paper called him a Red Fed—‘the chosen instrument of the Federation of Labour and bound to do its bidding’.
Derivatives
Red-ˈFedism n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > rule or government > politics > other national politics > [noun] > specific New Zealand principles, parties, or partisans
Red Fed1912
Red-Fedism1917
national1938
Nat1939
Socred1975
Rogernomics1985
Social Credit League1986
1917 Wanganui Herald 18 Apr. 23 (headline) Red Fedism. Akin to Prussianism.
1959 N.Z. Listener 26 June 4/1 Those dark days when many a university lecturer and many a student were being hauled across the coals for radicalism, Communism, red-Fed-ism, and all sorts of other nonsense.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1912