(n.) A lawless military adventurer, especially one in quest of plunder; a freebooter; -- originally applied to buccaneers infesting the Spanish American coasts, but introduced into common English to designate the followers of Lopez in his expedition to Cuba in 1851, and those of Walker in his expedition to Nicaragua, in 1855.
(v. i.) To act as a filibuster, or military freebooter.
(v. i.) To delay legislation, by dilatory motions or other artifices.
Example Sentences:
(1) They include two leading Republican hopefuls for the presidential race in 2016, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio; three of them enjoy A+ rankings from the NRA and a further eight are listed A. Rand Paul of Kentucky The junior senator's penchant for filibusters became famous during his nearly 13-hour speech against the use unmanned drones, and he is one of three senators who sent an initial missive to Reid , warning him of another verbose round.
(2) The immunity was enacted by an overwhelming bipartisan vote, with the support of leading Democrats including Barack Obama, who had promised - when seeking his party's nomination - to filibuster any bill that contained retroactive telecom immunity.
(3) Republicans are pushing their plan under rules that prevent a filibuster, so long as all the bill’s provisions pertain to government spending.
(4) McConnell argues that Wednesday’s speech was not technically a filibuster since Paul was unable to stop him taking back control of the floor under Senate rules when the next session resumed on Thursday.
(5) If passed, the TPA would give Congress the ability to review and vote for or against a final trade agreement, but it wouldn’t be able to amend it or filibuster it.
(6) Their filibustering brought 13 years of time, four spent arguing over where they should stand trial.
(7) The Texan first-term senator also revealed that he had swapped his usual ostrich-skin "argument boots" for a pair of black tennis shoes after taking advice from Rand Paul, who staged a shorter filibuster last year against US drone strikes.
(8) In 2011 the Texan senator stymied Republican legislative plans by filibustering for more than an hour, forcing the Texas governor and former presidential hopeful Rick Perry to call a special session to keep his party's austerity finance bill in play.
(9) Democrats are now trying to reach 41 votes, enough to block the disapproval vote in the Senate by filibuster, and spare Obama from having to spend political capital on a veto.
(10) The aim of the filibuster was to prevent the bill, by Republican senator Glen Hegar, reaching Perry.
(11) Showing signs of continuing well into the night, Cruz's pseudo-filibuster deployed the colourful rhetoric that have made him a 2016 presidential favourite among Tea Party conservatives.
(12) Instead, the big question going forward is: now that a precedent for simple-majority votes to change filibuster rules has been set, how far will it go?
(13) The bill became a keystone in the nationwide reproductive rights battle after Texas state senator Wendy Davis endured a marathon filibuster to block the passage of the bill in the first special session.
(14) But Republicans in that chamber will need to peel off eight Democratic or independent votes for the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster.
(15) "I want to make sure everyone understands: There is no filibuster today," declared Reid at the outset of Tuesday's session.
(16) In all, Davis spoke for 10 hours and 45 minutes in an attempt to filibuster the bill.
(17) Paul, a Kentucky senator and son of libertarian hero and former presidential hopeful Ron Paul, said he was making the filibuster attempt out of outrage at recent comments made by Obama officials on the possible legality of carrying out drone strikes against US citizens on American soil.
(18) During her epic address, Davis was equipped with the trainers, a back brace and according to recent reports, a catheter , to help her persevere with her filibuster until the legislative session was eventually timed out and the bill, which would effectively close dozens of Texas abortion clinics, was significantly delayed.
(19) Several Republicans have threatened to filibuster gun reform measures in the Senate.
(20) A lot of liberals argue that today: “Well, McConnell's probably going to get rid of the filibuster anyway the next chance he gets, so the Democrats might as well do it now while they're in power.” Today's rules change, though, will give McConnell more cover to those more serious, additional limitations to the filibuster, if he ever gets the chance.
Mercenary
Definition:
(a.) Acting for reward; serving for pay; paid; hired; hireling; venal; as, mercenary soldiers.
(a.) Hence: Moved by considerations of pay or profit; greedy of gain; sordid; selfish.
(n.) One who is hired; a hireling; especially, a soldier hired into foreign service.
Example Sentences:
(1) Donald Trump’s campaign chairman took a “mercenary” approach to lobbying the US government on behalf of international clients accused of killings, rapes and other atrocities, according to one of his former colleagues.
(2) Other South African reports have suggested the mercenaries were paid $15,000 each.
(3) Deplores the continuing flows of mercenaries into the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and calls upon all Member States to comply strictly with their obligations under paragraph 9 of resolution 1970 (2011) to prevent the provision of armed mercenary personnel to the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya; Ban on flights 17.
(4) Two of his top aides, Conor Cruise O'Brien and George Ivan Smith, both became convinced that the secretary general had been shot down by mercenaries working for European industrialists in Katanga.
(5) The CAR's ousted president, Francois Bozize, a Christian, fled the capital in March as the Seleka, including mercenaries from Chad and Sudan, overran the city.
(6) And he kept his mercenaries and tortured people inside these walls," said Tarek Saleh, a 25-year-old revolutionary.
(7) Unclothed female bodies offer a route up the ladder, just as armed male bodies do for the mercenary "sellswords", who seek their fortune by fighting.
(8) Allies can now expect to pay for their security umbrella, as the US military effectively turns into a mercenary force.
(9) There have been further protests in Iran in support of the mainly Shia Bahraini opposition, and Tehran recently warned Pakistan against sending any more "mercenaries" to join the crackdown.
(10) Yet some have dismissed the vote as irrelevant to Gaddafi and his remaining commanders, or argued that the resolution itself prevents any investigation into non-Libyan "mercenaries" who some allege have been involved in the killings.
(11) They say 10 generals who led the rebellion came from Chad, although they describe them as mercenaries rather than Chadian army officers.
(12) Ocampo suggested Saif could be travelling with the protection of mercenaries who are preparing to fly him to an unidentified African state that does not co-operate with the ICC and would be unlikely to extradite him.
(13) Bahrainis often complain that the riot police and special forces do not speak the local dialect, or in the case of Baluchis from Pakistan, do not speak Arabic at all and are reviled as mercenaries.
(14) In a statement on Friday, Russia's defence ministry said the Ukrainian military operation was launching rocket strikes on protesters, accusing it of employing ultra-nationalists from the group Right Sector and “English-speaking foreigners” it suggested were American mercenaries.
(15) Oh, and football clubs – two of them contesting the Champions League final in London next week – built on youth policy, supporter ownership and long-term strategy, not mercenary millionaires, foreign oligarchs and instant gratification.
(16) Later the kidnappers were described as "Chechen mercenaries" fighting with Jabhat al-Nusra, an extreme Islamist group that has links with al-Qaida.
(17) Fox, speaking on the steps of the Pentagon after meeting Gates, said: "We have seen significant progress made in the last 72 hours with Gaddafi's forces losing their grip on Misrata and we have received reports of under-age soldiers and foreign mercenaries being captured – this underlines the regimes inability to rely on its own security forces.
(18) The secretary-general, Dag Hammarskjöld , focused on finding a political solution for the first few months, but by September, he and his aides were convinced that western interests and mercenaries in Katanga were preventing a settlement, and authorised a UN military offensive there, codenamed Operation Morthor.
(19) It is thought the people in the portraits were the direct descendents of the original settlers in the Fayum, who were Greek mercenary soldiers who fought for the Ptolomies.
(20) Janjaweed forces that committed genocide in Darfur were frequently linked to Gaddafi: many had once been Islamic Legion members, the rag-tag mercenary army he had created to fulfil his vision of a pan-Arabic band across north Africa.