LOBBY (lobbied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: lobbied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lobby mean? 

• LOBBY (noun)
  The noun LOBBY has 3 senses:

1. a large entrance or reception room or area

2. the people who support some common cause or business or principle or sectional interest

3. an interest group that tries to influence legislators or bureaucrats to act in their favor, typically through lobbying

  Familiarity information: LOBBY used as a noun is uncommon.

• LOBBY (verb)
  The verb LOBBY has 1 sense:

1. detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors

  Familiarity information: LOBBY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LOBBY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A large entrance or reception room or area

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

antechamber; anteroom; entrance hall; foyer; hall; lobby; vestibule

Hypernyms ("lobby" is a kind of...):

room (an area within a building enclosed by walls and floor and ceiling)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lobby"):

narthex (a vestibule leading to the nave of a church)

Holonyms ("lobby" is a part of...):

building; edifice (a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The people who support some common cause or business or principle or sectional interest

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("lobby" is a kind of...):

people ((plural) any group of human beings (men or women or children) collectively)

Sense 3

Meaning:

An interest group that tries to influence legislators or bureaucrats to act in their favor, typically through lobbying

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Synonyms:

advocacy group; lobby; lobby group; pressure group; special-interest group; special interest; special interest group; third house

Hypernyms ("lobby" is a kind of...):

interest; interest group ((usually plural) a social group whose members control some field of activity and who have common aims)

political entity; political unit (a unit with political responsibilities)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "lobby"):

National Rifle Association; NRA (a powerful lobby that advocates the right to own and bear arms and rejects any gun regulation by the government)

Derivation:

lobby (detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors)

lobbyist (someone who is employed to persuade legislators to vote for legislation that favors the lobbyist's employer)

• LOBBY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they lobby    ... he / she / it lobbies   
Past simple: lobbied   
Past participle: lobbied   
-ing form: lobbying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Detain in conversation by or as if by holding on to the outer garments of; as for political or economic favors

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

buttonhole; lobby

Hypernyms (to "lobby" is one way to...):

beg; solicit; tap (make a solicitation or entreaty for something; request urgently or persistently)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

lobby (an interest group that tries to influence legislators or bureaucrats to act in their favor, typically through lobbying)

lobbyist (someone who is employed to persuade legislators to vote for legislation that favors the lobbyist's employer)

 Context examples 

"Miss," said a servant who met me in the lobby, where I was wandering like a troubled spirit, "a person below wishes to see you."

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Yes; I remember, I asked you while you were waiting in the lobby for your cloak.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Starting and looking up, she saw, across the lobby she had just reached, Edmund himself, standing at the head of a different staircase.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Last night, in Drury Lane lobby, I ran against Sir John Middleton, and when he saw who I was—for the first time these two months—he spoke to me.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

The lobbying was strong.

(Health threats caused by mobile phone radiation, EUROPARL TV)

On reaching the spacious lobby above they were shown into a very pretty sitting-room, lately fitted up with greater elegance and lightness than the apartments below; and were informed that it was but just done to give pleasure to Miss Darcy, who had taken a liking to the room when last at Pemberley.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

As the head of the house, he felt that he ought to have been consulted, especially after taking the young man so publicly by the hand; For they must have been seen together, he observed, once at Tattersall's, and twice in the lobby of the House of Commons.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The bustle in the vestibule, as she passed along an inner lobby, assured her that they were already in the house.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Catherine was the immediate object of his gallantry; and, while they waited in the lobby for a chair, he prevented the inquiry which had travelled from her heart almost to the tip of her tongue, by asking, in a consequential manner, whether she had seen him talking with General Tilney: He is a fine old fellow, upon my soul!

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

There could be no doubt of his obtaining leave of absence immediately, for he was still only a midshipman; and as his parents, from living on the spot, must already have seen him, and be seeing him perhaps daily, his direct holidays might with justice be instantly given to the sister, who had been his best correspondent through a period of seven years, and the uncle who had done most for his support and advancement; and accordingly the reply to her reply, fixing a very early day for his arrival, came as soon as possible; and scarcely ten days had passed since Fanny had been in the agitation of her first dinner-visit, when she found herself in an agitation of a higher nature, watching in the hall, in the lobby, on the stairs, for the first sound of the carriage which was to bring her a brother.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)