The practice or system of using bribes and dishonest money in politics; corruption as a widespread doctrine or method.
From 'boodle' combined with the suffix '-ism' (a system or practice), creating a noun that treats corruption as an organized philosophy. This American political term became popular during the Progressive Era.
Journalists in the 1880s-1890s invented words like 'boodleism' to name corruption as a systemic problem, not just individual wrongdoing—showing how language evolves when people need to describe new social threats.
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