cabal

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The Word of the Day for January 24 is: 

cabal   \kuh-BAHL\   noun
         *1 : the artifices and intrigues of a group of persons secretly united 
in a plot (as to overturn a government); also : a group engaged in such 
artifices and intrigues
     2 : club, group

Example sentence:
          The journalist uncovered evidence that a cabal of power brokers was 
plotting to overthrow the government.

Did you know?
          In _A Child's History of England_, Charles Dickens associates the 
word "cabal" with a group of five ministers in the government of England's King 
Charles II. The initial letters of the names or titles of those men (Clifford, 
Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley, and Lauderdale) spelled "cabal," and Dickens 
dubbed them the "Cabal Ministry." These five men were widely regarded as 
invidious, secretive plotters and their activities may have encouraged English 
speakers to associate "cabal" with high-level government intrigue. But their 
names are not the source of the word "cabal," which was in use decades before 
Charles II ascended the throne. The term can be traced back through French to 
"cabbala," the Medieval Latin name for the Kabbalah, a traditional system of 
esoteric Jewish mysticism.





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