Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun an important person, often in the negative sense of self-important; a bigwig

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Yiddish מאַכער (makher, "one who makes"), from מאַכן (makhn, "to make")

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Examples

  • Such is the reach of the billionaire named by this list two years running as the most powerful person in the art world -- a man who more than any other deserves the term macher, which started appearing out of the blue in countless entries about Mr. Pinault from our New York writers.

    The Power 100 2007

  • In Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox community this week, Rosenbaum, who claimed to be a real estate dealer, was described as a macher, or fixer, who assisted renal patients in finding appropriate medical treatment in the U.S.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2010

  • Well, if this were the "macher" awards, Gupta would win hands down.

    Alison Rose Levy: Michael Moore Trumps the Loyalty Card 2008

  • Initially Madoff would rely on a "macher," the Yiddish term for a big shot, who would go to the country club and "brag, 'I've got my money invested with Madoff and he's doing really well,'" the Journal wrote.

    The Economic Times 2009

  • As the scandal first broke, Greenberg obsessively pandered to the most vile Jew haters with reckless headlines like "Bernard Madoff - The End Of The Jews", and quoted a "macher" that said "Madoff will kill more Jews than Hitler".

    Articles 2009

  • Says über-wonk (and Franken's friend) Norman Ornstein, "This is a guy who has been a policy wonk for his adult life." article traces 26-year-old real estate and media "macher" Jared Kushner's rapid rise.

    Slate Magazine Marc Tracy 2009

  • A commentator looking to take down a Wall Street macher could do worse than setting his sights on Steven Rattner.

    Yvette Kantrow: Making it Yvette Kantrow 2010

  • But then again, if you are such a macher, why are you so worried about the bar tab?

    Michael Cohen: Ask Michael Cohen: Mile High Club 2010

  • The rabbi is a big macher so he is often off visiting the indigent, protesting injustice, campaigning for Israel.

    The Dying Tradition 2010

  • But then again, if you are such a macher, why are you so worried about the bar tab?

    Michael Cohen: Ask Michael Cohen: Mile High Club 2010

Comments

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  • “For instance, a lot of the things that high-minded left-wingers hate about contemporary Washington — the legal corruption, if you will, associated with lobbying and influence peddling and corporate money — are a direct result of having built a big, expensive government that every would-be macher in the world feels they need to influence.�?

    The New York Times, Are Liberals More Corrupt?, by Gail Collins and Ross Douthat, August 5, 2009

    August 6, 2009