veton.
/ˈviːtəʊ/, U.S. /ˈvidoʊ/, /ˈviˌtoʊ/ 1.
a. A prohibition having as its object or result the prevention of an act; an instance of rejecting, banning, or blocking an action, proposal, etc. Also: the power to prevent or check action in this way. Often in to put (also place, set, etc.) a veto on (also upon).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > [noun] > veto
veto1629
stop1634
1629 W. Mure True Crucifixe 1108 Hee who doth exalt Himselfe to raigne,..Dare gainst this Law most impudently stand, And God's great Veto boldly counter-mand.
1654 J. Trapp Comm. Minor Prophets (Zach. ii. 13) God..refraineth the remainder of mans wrath... If he do but..interpose his Veto.
1671 R. McWard Case of Accomm. 85 His not assenting to this circumstance will be of no lesse consequence for his purpose, then if he had reserved unto himself an inhibiting veto, upon the substance of the whole businesse.
1788 H. Walpole Reminisc. in Lett. (1857) I. p. cxviii They persuaded her to demand of the new King an earl's coronet for Lord Bathurst. She did—the Queen put in her veto.
1794 U. Price Ess. Picturesque 43 (note) Had I not advanced too far to think of retreating, I might possibly have been deterred by so absolute a veto from such authority.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott III. x. 323 Upon this ingenious proposition Scott at once set his veto.
1866 ‘G. Eliot’ Felix Holt II. xxiv. 134 The Rector had beforehand put a veto on any Dissenting chairman.
1867 S. W. Baker Nile Tributaries (1872) xv. 255 They were much displeased at my immediately placing a veto upon their bloody intentions.
1922 L. Halphen in A. Tilley Medieval France v. 197 They carried furs,..precious metals, wine also (which in spite of the veto of the Koran, was bought from them in the African markets).
1976 E. Dunlop Flute in Mayferry St. v. 49 Marion, who knew a veto when she heard one, did not even bother to argue.
2011 N.Y. Times Mag. 24 Apr. 10/1 Some posts would be deleted not because they actually defame or violate privacy but because someone complains that they do. The heckler's veto, as it's called, is anathema to free-speech advocates.
b. spec. An act or instance of rejecting a legislative or other political measure, by a person or body legally or constitutionally empowered to do so; the constitutional right or power to reject an enactment or measure.Like sense 1a, often in to put a veto on and similar phrases.local veto: see the first element. See also pocket veto n.
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society > authority > subjection > prohibition > [noun] > veto > legislative or political
vetoa1658
a1658 A. Farindon LXXX Serm. (1672) II. xxix. 927 There is a Law staring in our face, like a Tribune with his Veto, to forbid us.
1762 I. Maudit Parallel 42 He might have stopt the influence of foreign councils, and with efficacy have pronounced his Veto upon their farther proceedings.
1778 Orig. Papers Death Ld. Pigot 236 That he alone can adjourn or summons any meeting of Council; and other exclusive prerogatives, which amount to a Polish veto, upon every public or private question before the Board.
1780 Authentic Minutes Deb. Irish House of Commons 67 Licentious tribunes may put their own construction upon it; they may put their veto upon measures evidently calculated for the benefit of Ireland.
1789 A. Young Jrnl. 29 June in Trav. France (1792) i. 127 I was..answered, that the King of France must have no veto on the will of the nation.
1803 Gazetteer Scotl. Introd. p. xxiv Though the king possessed no veto, yet..nothing could come before parliament which could require his negative.
1841 W. Spalding Italy & Ital. Islands I. 87 He deprived the plebeian tribunes of every prerogative except the veto, which he restricted to certain cases.
1860 J. L. Motley Hist. Netherlands (1868) II. xii. 112 It could neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto on the decrees of the Governor.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. xvi. 232 The President's veto kills off some vicious measures.
1911 Times 11 Feb. 7/3 County Councils were enabled to put a veto on the extension of compulsory Registration of Title.
1960 Herald Jrnl. (Logan, Utah) 28 Mar. 1/2 There would be no veto, such as the Soviets have used to hamstring the U. N. Security Council.
1998 Financial Times 10 Feb. 2 He [sc. the Polish president] has a veto over all legislation except the annual budget.
2014 BBC Monitoring Europe (Nexis) 16 June Even if it passes all these stages, the US President is entitled to place a veto on it.
c. right (also power) of veto: the constitutional right or power to reject a legislative or political measure; (more generally) the right to block or reject any action, proposal, etc.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > legislation > [noun] > power of > power of veto
right (also power) of veto1835
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > [noun] > veto > power of
right (also power) of veto1835
1762 tr. G.-F. Coyer Hist. J. Sobieski i. 13 These deputies represent the whole Equestrian order in the general assemblies of the nation, called diets, and put a stop to all proceedings there, whenever they please, by their right of Veto [Fr. droit de Veto].
1835 J. J. Dillon Horæ Icenæ 7 (note) The King has not the power of veto, only to delay sanction for a time.
1864 A. Austin Artist's Proof I. viii. 212 Though Mrs. Thatchley may have become convinced that you will retain a right of veto on her choice,..she will of course retain her right of veto upon yours.
1879 M. Arnold Irish Catholicism in Mixed Ess. 124 The bishops claimed..the right of veto on the appointment of professors.
1920 Des Moines (Iowa) Sunday Capital 29 Feb. 13 a/6 The French and the Italians..desire to regain freedom of action and take away the president's power of veto.
1959 R. M. Slusser & J. F. Triska Cal. Soviet Treaties 179/2 Stalin accepted the American position that the Big Power right of veto applied only to questions involving enforcement action.
1992 P. W. Birnie & A. E. Boyle Internat. Law & Environment iv. iii. 165 The only other international organization with a comparable power of veto on environmental grounds is the Oslo Dumping Commission.
1997 Independent on Sunday 3 Aug. (Review Suppl.) 43/4 Marie had exercised her right of veto on the fresh raw lamb's liver, but she was willing to give lisanat (cold salad of lambs' tongues) a go.
2. figurative and in figurative contexts.
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1795 Brit. Tocsin iii. 32 All restraints introduce ruin, and all duties, customs, and excises, are nothing more than tyranny passing a veto upon the prosperity of trade.
1800 Brit. Critic 16 Pref. The inexorable veto of Death has precluded all such expectations.
1809 S. Smith in Edinb. Rev. Apr. 41 It is not the practice with destroyers of vermin to allow the little victims a veto upon the weapons used against them.
1826 Sporting Mag. 17 376 Jack Frost, however, put a veto on our morning's sport.
1865 J. B. Mozley 8 Lect. Miracles iii. 73 Confounding the resistance of impression to a miracle with the veto of reason.
1924 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 July 426/1 He was entirely right in attributing its manias to a fatal surrender of the discriminating veto of reason.
1989 Mod. Painters Winter 42/2 What survives the veto of the slashing palette knife is no accident.
2006 W. Feinberg For Goodness Sake ii. vi. 127 The fact that students are taught a scientifically questionable doctrine is less important than the fact that they are being taught that religion has a veto on science.
Compounds
C1. General attributive, as veto message, veto power, veto proposition, etc.
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1818 Cambr. Reveille (Cambr. City, Indiana) 16 Dec. The balance of the message is mostly a federal argument in favor of the exercise of the veto power by the President.
1830 Daily National Intelligencer (Washington) 2 July The nullifying politicians of South Carolina will not accept the Veto Message.
1861 W. J. Fitzpatrick Life, Times, & Corr. Dr. Doyle I. vi. 154 The friends of the Catholic claims had abandoned the old veto propositions.
1883 Harper's Mag. Nov. 941/2 While it did not give them actual control, [it] allowed the exercise of a veto power somewhat akin to it.
1911 Titonka (Iowa) Topic 30 Mar. The ‘certain contingency’ means the omission or refusal of the Lords to accept the veto provision which the Liberal government has prepared.
2006 A. Kuczynski Beauty Junkies vii. 142 In his veto message, the Governator agreed with the plastic surgeons who had argued that oral surgeons were not prepared to do the types of operations in question.
2015 Windsor (Ont.) Star (Nexis) 22 May a8 The veto power in the Security Council has frustrated UN efforts to stop aggression.
C2. Limitative and objective, as veto-proof, veto-wielding adjs., etc.
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1867 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 16 Jan. 1/1 There seems to be really no obstacle which the omnipotence of a veto-proof Congress may not overcome.
1915 S. J. Lubin in F. B. Lenz Immigration 63 The literacy test fails to impress favorably our veto-wielding Presidents, to say nothing of the steamship lobby and the foreign national lobbies.
1947 Time 3 Mar. 109/1 The Assembly..called on veto-wielding powers to use restraint.
1959 Daily Tel. 27 Apr. 10 The Prime Minister..proposed breaking the existing deadlock over a control system by a ‘quota’ plan limiting the number of veto-free inspections per year.
1972 National Observer (U.S.) 16 Sept. 2/5 The debt-limit extension, veto-proof because of its importance, could become a Christmas tree of Democratic proposals.
1990 N. D. White United Nations & Maintenance Internat. Peace ii. Introd. 95 The smaller States insisted that all the power should not be..in the hands of the veto-wielding powers.
2011 New Yorker 18 Apr. 46/1 In January of this year, the President signed a politically veto-proof defense-appropriation bill.
C3.
Veto Act n. Church History an act of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, passed in 1834, providing that no minister should be assigned to a parish against the wish of the congregation.
ΘΚΠ
society > law > types of laws > [noun] > concerning religion
Bloody Statutea1648
Five-mile Act1672
Corporation Act1679
test-law1687
Bill of Toleration1692
Test Act1708
Schism Act1733
Schism Bill1733
penal codea1777
Veto Act1835
1835 Old England 28 Nov. 2 The evils which have all along been anticipated from the operation of the veto act are now beginning to be practically felt.
1840 in Acts Gen. Assembly (1843) 1103 The act anent calls, called the Veto Act.
1998 Herald (Glasgow) 1 Oct. 18 The Veto Act worked well for a while. Between 1834 and 1839, 150 ministers entered on new charges and in only 10 of these cases was a veto involved.
veto pen n. originally and chiefly U.S. the (notional or figurative) pen with which a veto is signed; (hence) the power of veto.
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1836 U.S. Tel. (Washington, D.C.) 23 June The old Veto pen is called for. Its iron handle is not rusty; it has been used too often for that.
1966 N.Y. Times 12 July 19/1 I suggest the President buy a case of veto pens and use them.
2005 Chicago Tribune (Midwest ed.) 17 Feb. i. 12/4 Bush eschews the veto pen to cut profligate spending.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
vetov.
/ˈviːtəʊ/, U.S. /ˈvidoʊ/, /ˈviˌtoʊ/ 1.
a. transitive. To put a veto on (a legislative or political measure); to stop or block by exercising a veto.See also pocket-veto v.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > prohibit [verb (transitive)] > veto > legislative or political measures
veto1706
negative1749
beveto1837
1706 T. Hearne Remarks & Coll. (1885) I. 213 Letters for degrees..vetoed by the Proctors.
1837 H. Martineau Society in Amer. II. 210 Mr. Monroe vetoed the bill authorising the collection of tolls for the repair of the Cumberland road.
1861 T. E. May Constit. Hist. Eng. (1863) III. xvii. 572 Measures passed by the assembly were refused by the council, or vetoed by the governor.
1888 J. Bryce Amer. Commonw. I. vi. 74 Washington vetoed (to use the popular expression) two bills only.
1930 Financial Times 15 Aug. 2/7 (headline) Mayor vetoes contract for construction.
1992 Strait Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 29 Oct. Portugal has vetoed negotiations over a new agreement.
2012 Independent 30 Nov. 37/3 The Deputy Prime Minister is expected to veto the draft Communications Data Bill.
b. transitive. gen. To reject, stop, block; to refuse consent to. Also figurative and in figurative contexts.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > prohibit [verb (transitive)] > veto
veto1834
1834 Pearl & Lit. Gaz. 1 Feb. 103/1 Has Mr. Sylvester forbidden you? Ah! I see he has vetoed your smile, and it no longer beams bliss on me.
1871 E. F. Burr Ad Fidem iv. 66 [God] will be hampered by no necessity of general laws. The nature of free moral agents will not veto His activity.
1879 E. K. Bates Egyptian Bonds I. vii. 146 Fred's common sense vetoes this suggestion at once.
1902 J. Buchan Watcher by Threshold iii. 182 I proposed shooting, which he promptly vetoed.
1948 R. Stout And be Villain ii. 8 I was all for driving to Connecticut and horning in on the week end, but Wolfe vetoed it and told me to wait until Monday.
2005 C. Froula V. Woolf & Bloomsbury Avant-Garde Notes 332 War.., though always vetoed by moral-practical reason, provides ‘a motive for developing all talents serviceable for culture to the highest possible pitch’.
2. transitive. To refuse to admit or accept (a person) as a member or appointee.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > refusal > [verb (transitive)] > reject or cast off a person
refusec1390
wavescha1400
denyc1400
rejectc1450
replya1500
repudiate1534
to fling off1587
reprobate1747
veto1839
to tie a can to (or on)1926
to give (a person) the elbow1938
wipe1941
1839 J. Hope Let. to Ld. Chancellor Claims Church of Scotl. 169 I can even imagine individuals to have given proof, that they vetoed the nominee of the patron because they wished for another.
1885 Graphic 24 Jan. 74/2 The right of vetoing persons whom they deemed ineligible.
1934 Ironwood (Mich.) Daily Globe 10 Jan. 2/2 Vetoing a candidate is rated far less significant than naming another..whom the bank frankly doesn't want.
1958 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 20 Apr. 1/5 Many competent observers believe COPE has sufficient power if not to nominate at least to veto the nominee of the Democratic National Convention.
1984 S. Keery Last Romantic out of Belfast xiii. 127 Mr Laffin suddenly remembered that the bank manager was a Mason. He wondered..if he was the one who had vetoed him. It took only one black bean dropped into the voting bowl.
2015 Telegraph (India) (Nexis) 16 Oct. Any two members of the commission could veto a candidate.
Derivatives
ˈvetoed adj.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > statement > refusal > [adjective] > rejecting > rejected > of persons
refusedc1530
vetoed1832
1832 Niles' Weekly Reg. 11 Aug. The bank of the United States as it..will be, if the veto-ed bill of last session of congress shall yet be passed into a law.
1893 A. Gordon Earl of Aberdeen vi. 144 Another vetoed minister..applied to the Court of Session to issue a similar decree..on his behalf.
1941 Joplin (Missouri) News Herald 24 Jan. 10/1 The ‘vetoed’ resolution under which the committee must operate provided that actual recount of the ballots must be under way by next Monday.
2015 Grand Haven (Mich.) Tribune (Nexis) 10 Apr. The vetoed proposal created a class of vapor products for e-cigarettes instead of classifying them as tobacco products.
ˈvetoer n.
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > subjection > prohibition > [noun] > veto > legislative or political > one who vetoes or advocates veto
vetoist1811
vetoer1833
1833 New-Eng. Galaxy & U.S. Lit. Advertiser 22 June 1/5 It would be agreeable to see the Vetoer of the U.S. Ban revelling the Union with bank bills.
1892 Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch 27 Sept. Cleveland's record as a vetoer of pension bills.
1946 Robesonian (Lumberton, N. Carolina) 28 June 4/1 Russia fairly has earned the reputation of being the world's greatest vetoer.
1978 B. Chapman Clarke's Analyt. Archaeol. (ed. 2) viii. 333 The environment is the vetoer of all states of equilibrium in the culture system.
2005 N.Y. Times 28 Feb. a3/1 The U.N...was no longer limited by vetoers and naysayers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1629v.1706- to have axes to grind
- to have bad mind for
- to have bats in the belfry
- to have beat
- to have been a begging
- to have been and gone
- to have been around
- to have been around the block
- to have been at the
- to have been in the sun
- to have been in the sunshine
- to have been in the wars
- to have been round
- to have been there
- to have been there before
- to have been there, done that
- to have been through the mill
- to have been with
- to have beforehand
- to have blood on one's hands
- to have both oars in the water
- to have both one's meat and mense
- to have bouche of court
- to have bouche of in court
- to have breath