jawsmith

English

Etymology

jaw +‎ smith.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

jawsmith (plural jawsmiths)

1. (US, slang) An orator, especially a demagogue.
   • 2002, John Quirt, Jackboots in the Heartland, pages 58–59:

     [Phil LaGassly] had a knack for winning over tough audiences, throwing in little asides and an unscripted joke or two as he went along. […] Andy [LaGassly's speechwriter] would sprinkle in a fair amount of substance here and there, wherever he could, always making sure he came up with a few catchy phrases that were conducive to huzzah; and LaGassly could be counted on to deliver them in exactly the right way. It had been quite an act–the jawsmith and the wordsmith […]

2. (US, slang) A union organizer; later especially of the International Workers of the World.
   • 1891 January 16, Congressional Record, volume 22, 51st Congress, 2nd session, House, page 1476:

     One professional jaw-smith, who came as the self-appointed messenger of American labor wanted a Chinese-wall tariff, and subsidized ships to carry cargoes one way and ballast the other.

   • 1898, Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States, volume 29, page 253:

     The evolutions and involutions of a maiden effort at Dress Parade are incomprehensible as ravings of the salaried jawsmith in a labor strike, who has burst into a profuse state of prevarication as the rosy beer-froth mantles his sublime cheek.

   • 1986, Pete Seeger, Carry it on!: a history in song and picture of the working men and women of America‎^[1], page 104:

     Many Wobblies became "jawsmiths," or organizers, themselves. While working at their regular jobs they would hitchhike and boxcar-hop across the country, stopping off at factory towns and lumber camps, speaking and singing at the top of their lungs.

   • 1987, Rosalyn Baxandall, editor, Words on Fire: The Life and Writing of Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, pages 11, 19:

     The life of a "jawsmith", as IWW speakers and agitators were called […] Fatigue, burnout and overexhaustion are the diseases of the jawsmith trade.