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swift-boat

Syllabification: (swift·boat)
Definition of swift-boat

verb

[with object] informal
  • target (a politician or public figure) with a campaign of personal attacks:when he got swift-boated, his campaign staffers didn’t sit silently (as noun swift-boating)organized smearing and swift-boating of public figures

Origin:

2004: with allusion to Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a political action committee that funded an advertising campaign criticizing 2004 US presidential candidate Senator John Kerry's record of military service aboard a swift boat, a type of US Navy patrol craft, during the Vietnam War

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