pooh-bah

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pooh-bah

1. A self-important government official who holds several positions but performs little or no actual duties. The term comes from the character Pooh-Bah, Lord-High-Everything-Else, from The Mikado, a comic opera by W.S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan. Only that pooh-bah in the cabinet could hold so many titles and do so little.
2. The most important or powerful person in a group, organization, business, or movement (e.g., the boss, leader, etc.). I think it sounds like a great idea, but you'll have to ask the pooh-bah first.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.
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References in periodicals archive ?
Among those taking the leading roles are: Paul Richmond as Nanki-Poo; Gerald Tinson as Pooh Bah; Michael Robinson as Pish Tush; and Di Schofield as Katisha.
Better to accentuate the positive and let Lord Hi Pooh Bah, councillor Barney Crockett, talk about how great life is in Aberdeen.
There is no danger that the new Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow will ever be mistaken for that pompous, self-important Gilbert and Sullivan character, Pooh Bah, the Lord High Everything Else.
Howard Scott-Walker of Rugby is Pooh Bah, Alison York of Coventry is Katisha and Ian Page also from Coventry plays the male lead Nanki Poo.
Society chairman Paul Thompson played the title role in that production and has done so twice since, but this time he will be Pooh Bah
The book review by Amitabh Pal, "The Pooh Bah of Capitalism" (July issue), was a convincing pan of what must be a truly awful book.
PLAY IT AGAIN: This is Howard Habron, left, now of Birkby, appearing as Pooh Bah in the Deighton Secondary School production of The Mikado in 1970.
Sadly, I report the death of the man who came close to being the Pooh Bah of Sutton Arts Theatre.
Because Friedman is a pooh bah of the foreign policy elite.
Society chairman Paul Thompson has been the Mikado in three of the productions, but this time he will be Pooh Bah.
Steven Greenwood's voice has an operatic quality and the singing of Norma Walker (as Katisha), Sandra Hosker (Yum Yum) and Gerald Ginson (Pooh bah) also stands out.
Walter Plinge is a label well known in theatrical circles and Barry Lankester himself was similarly disguised, soon after he had begun appearing on television, when he played Pooh Bah in The Mikado in the late 1950s.