A person who withdraws from a political party or group and gathers with others in opposition; historically, a British politician who refused to support party leadership.
From Adullam, the biblical cave where David and discontent followers gathered. The term was used by British politician John Bright in 1866 to describe MPs who left the Liberal party, comparing them to those seeking refuge in a cave.
The 1866 British politicians called 'Adullamites' reclaimed a biblical name as an insult—showing how language works: an ancient place name became political slang when 19th-century politicians needed a dramatic metaphor for party defectors.
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