boycott

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The Word of the Day for January 7 is:=20

boycott   \BOY-kaht\   verb
           : to engage in a concerted refusal to have dealings with (as =
a person, store, or organization) usually to express disapproval or to f=
orce acceptance of certain conditions

Example sentence:
           The group boycotted the clothing company to protest its pract=
ice of employing sweatshop labor.

Did you know?
           In the 1870s, Irish farmers faced an agricultural crisis that=
 threatened to result in a repeat of the terrible famine and mass evicti=
ons of the 1840s. Anticipating financial ruin, they formed a Land League=
 to campaign against the rent increases and evictions landlords were imp=
osing as a result of the crisis. Retired British army captain Charles Bo=
ycott had the misfortune to be acting as an agent for an absentee landlo=
rd at the time, and when he tried to evict tenant farmers for refusing t=
o pay their rent, he was ostracized by the League and community. His lab=
orers and servants quit, and his crops began to rot. Boycott's fate was =
soon well known, and his name became a byword for that particular protes=
t strategy.





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