intransitive. To change one's party or allegiance; to transfer from one side to another.

slang. intransitive. Originally: (Politics) to desert a party, cause, or principle; to go over as a deserter; (now also) to abandon, desert, or…

To dart off or away, make off with himself, take flight, escape; to rush suddenly off or away. transferred. To break away from a political party. (U.S…

to jump Jim Crow: to execute the dance that was part of a theatrical (or street) performance of ‘Jim Crow’; to jump about. Also figurative, to change…

(intransitive) to abandon the party to which one owes one's position or office, as President Tyler (1841–5) did; also transitive in causal sense.