Uncle Sam
A personification of the United States federal government or citizensA personification of the United States federal government or (rare) citizens.
Meaning
1 senses(colloquial)A personification of the United States federal government or (rare) citizens.
Uncle Sam needs brave men and women to enlist in the Army.
Uncle Sam
дя́дя Сэмdjádja Sɛm
Дядько СемDjadʹko Sem
Translations
9 languagesOrigin
From uncle + Sam (diminutive of the male name Samuel), probably based on the initialism U.From uncle + Sam (diminutive of the male name Samuel), probably based on the initialism U.S. of the United States. While folk etymology suggests that the term was named after Samuel Wilson (1766–1854), a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied the United States Army with canned meat during the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom, the Oxford English Dictionary notes there is no evidence that this is the case.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.