boroughmonger means in the unreformed House of Commons, one who bought or sold the parliamentary seats of boroughs. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why “boroughmonger” is a great word
BOROUGHMONGER — [Noun] In the unreformed British parliamentary system before 1832, one who commercially trafficked in the right to represent a borough, treating its parliamentary seat as a private commodity. From borough (a town or district with municipal representation) + monger (a dealer or trader). Earliest evidence from 1809. Unlike a patron, who wielded influence through property or legacy, or a rotten borough, the hollowed-out district itself, a boroughmonger was the cynical broker of political flesh. His trade was the ledger entry pricing a town's voice, the cold handshake sealing the sale of a constituency's will, and the silent auction of a pocket borough's empty writ—the grim calculus that reduces democracy to its market price.
Etymology
From borough + monger.
noun
- In the unreformed House of Commons, one who bought or sold the parliamentary seats of boroughs.“Whig and radical newspapers pilloried them as allies of boroughmongers, maintainers of graft and corruption and bribery, enemies of liberty and the civil rights of Englishmen.”