It’s official: “Earmark” is now in the dictionary.
Merriam-Webster added the word, along with just over 100 others, to its latest edition. Politically charged terms like “waterboarding” and “carbon footprint” were also included in this round of updates.
The definition of ‘earmark’ reads: “A provision in Congressional legislation that allocates a specified amount of money for a specific project, program, or organization.”
Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), one of the biggest opponents of earmarks in Congress, seized on the news to press for a cut in pork barrel spending.
“Appropriators have been trying to find the word ‘earmark’ in the Constitution for years. At least now they’ll be able to find it in the dictionary,” said Flake. “Now that ‘earmark’ is in the dictionary, maybe we can get earmarks out of Congress.”