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Cabalʹ

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A junto or council of intriguers. One of the Ministries of Charles II. was called a cabal (1670), because the initial letters of its members formed this acrostic: Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham, Arlington, and Lauderdale. This accident may have popularised the word, but, without doubt, we borrowed it from the French cabale, “an intriguing faction,” and Hebrew cabʹala, “secret knowledge.” A junto is merely an assembly; Spanish, junta, a council. (See Notarica; Tammany Ring.)

1


“In dark cabals and mighty juntos met.”



“These ministers were emphatically called the Cabal, and they soon made the appellation so infamous that it has never since … . been used except as a term of reproach.”—Macaulay: England, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 165.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Byzanʹtines (3 syl.)
C
C
Ca Ira (it will go)
Caaba
Cab
Cabal
Cabala
Cabalist
Cabalistic
Caballero
Cabbage
Cabbage (To)
Cabinet Ministers
Cabiri
Cable’s Length
Cabochon (En)

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Notarica

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Cabal`