Whig - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition whig

Definition :

Whig, said to be a word meaning 'sour milk'. The name was applied in Scotland, in 1648, to those violent Covenanters who opposed the Duke of Hamilton's invasion of England in order to restore Charles the First. Sir Walter Scott, however, gives a different derivation. Speaking of the rising of the Covenanters on this occasion, he says: 'This insurrection was called the Whigamores' Raid, from the word whig, whig, that is, get on, get on, which is used by the western peasants in driving their horses-a name destined to become the distinction of a powerful party in British history.'-Tales of a Grandfather, ch. xlv.

The appellation of Whig and Tory to political factions was first heard of in 1679, and though as senseless as any cant terms that could be devised, they became instantly as familiar in use as they have since continued.-2 Hallam's Const. Hist., c 12.

Whig and Tory differed mainly in this, that to a Tory the Constitution, inasmuch as it was the Constitution, with an ultimate point beyond which he never looked, and from which he thought it altogether impossible to swerve: whereas a Whig deemed all forms of government subordinate to the public good, and, therefore, liable to change when they should cease to promote their object. See TORY.