the central organization of the Democratic Party in New York county. Originally founded as a benevolent society (Tammany Society) in 1789, Tammany Hall was notorious for the corruption in city and state politics that it fostered in the 19th and early 20th centuries
Also called: Tammany
Derived forms
Tammanyism (ˈTammanyism)
noun
Tammanyite (ˈTammanyite)
noun
Tammany Hall in American English
noun
1.
a Democratic political organization in New York City, founded in 1789 as a fraternal benevolent society (Tammany Society) and associated esp. in the late 1800s and early 1900s with corruption and abuse of power
2.
the building in which the Tammany organization had its headquarters
Word origin
[named after Tammany (var. of tamanen, tammenund), 17th-century chief of the Delaware people, later facetiously canonized as patronsaint of U.S.]