Lobbying

How to spell lobbying

8 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce lobbying

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does lobbying mean?

1. nounThe activity of trying to influence politicians or officials on a particular issue, usually on behalf of an organisation or cause.

Lobbying in a sentence

• The charity spent months lobbying for a change in the housing law.

• Intense lobbying by the tobacco industry delayed the new regulations.

Where does lobbying come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The word traces back to the Medieval Latin lobia or laubia, meaning a covered walkway, gallery, or portico, a term that was itself Germanic in flavour and related to the idea of a leafy shelter or arbour. It passed into English as 'lobby' by the sixteenth century to describe a long passage, corridor, or entrance hall. The political meaning grew up around the lobbies and ante-rooms of legislative buildings, especially the British Parliament and later the United States Congress, where members of the public would wait to buttonhole politicians and press their case. From this physical sense of cornering a lawmaker in the lobby came the verb 'to lobby', meaning to seek to influence decisions, and from there the gerund 'lobbying'. The doubled b survives because 'lobby' ends in a single stressed vowel plus a consonant, so the b is doubled when the -ing ending is added, which is the spot where writers most often slip.

How the word is built

• lobby (entrance hall where petitioners gather)
• -ing (verb/gerund suffix); note the doubled b before -ing