whig Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a member of the political party that urged social reform in 18th and 19th century England; was the opposition party to the Tories
  2. noun a supporter of the American Revolution
  3. noun a member of the Whig Party that existed in the United States before the American Civil War

WordNet

Whig noun
Etymology
See Whey.
Definitions
  1. Acidulated whey, sometimes mixed with buttermilk and sweet herbs, used as a cooling beverage. Obs. or Prov. Eng.
Whig noun
Etymology
Said to be from whiggam, a term used in Scotland in driving horses, whiggamore one who drives horses (a term applied to some western Scotchmen), contracted to whig. In 1648, a party of these people marched to Edinburgh to oppose the king and the duke of Hamilton (the Whiggamore raid), and hence the name of Whig was given to the party opposed to the court. Cf. Scot. whig to go quickly.
Definitions
  1. (Eng. Politics) One of a political party which grew up in England in the seventeenth century, in the reigns of Charles I. and II., when great contests existed respecting the royal prerogatives and the rights of the people. Those who supported the king in his high claims were called Tories, and the advocates of popular rights, of parliamentary power over the crown, and of toleration to Dissenters, were, after 1679, called Whigs. The terms Liberal and Radical have now generally superseded Whig in English politics. See the note under Tory.
  2. (Amer. Hist.) (a) A friend and supporter of the American Revolution; -- opposed to Tory, and Royalist. (b) One of the political party in the United States from about 1829 to 1856, opposed in politics to the Democratic party.
Whig adjective
Definitions
  1. Of or pertaining to the Whigs.

Webster 1913