word of the day: cabal

The word of the day is cabal:

Etymology:  < French cabale (16th cent. in Littré), used in all the English senses, < medieval Latin cab(b)ala (Italian cabala , Spanish cabala , Portuguese cabala )

1. = Cabbala n. 1: The Jewish tradition as to the interpretation of the Old Testament. Obs. 

2. = Cabbala n. 2:a. Any tradition or special private interpretation. 

b. A secret. Obs. 

3.a. A secret or private intrigue of a sinister character formed by a small body of persons; ‘something less than conspiracy’ (Johnson).

b. as a species of action; = caballing n.

 4.a. A secret or private meeting, esp. of intriguers or of a faction. arch. or Obs.

 b. phrase. in cabal. arch. or Obs.

 5. A small body of persons engaged in secret or private machination or intrigue; a junto, clique, côterie, party, faction. 

6.a. Applied in the reign of Charles II to the small committee or junto of the Privy Council, otherwise called the ‘Committee for Foreign Affairs’, which had the chief management of the course of government, and was the precursor of the modern cabinet. 

b. in Hist. applied spec. to the five ministers of Charles II, who signed the Treaty of Alliance with France for war against Holland in 1672: these were Clifford, Arlington, Buckingham, Ashley (Earl of Shaftesbury), and Lauderdale, the initials of whose names thus arranged chanced to spell the word cabal.  (OED)

"My studies have shown misprints and mispellings in the average publication in England to be approaching 0.67345 per page!  The trade of booksellers and publishers - whose scurrilous cabal I expose in 'Machinery and Manufacturers' (price 6 bound in cloth, 'an unmixed gratification' - The Athanaeum) have done nothing!"

 - Charles Babbage, "User Experience", Sydney Padua