suffix when linked with a subject, used to designate a person that may be dominant, or aspiring to dominance, or pretending superiority within that subject area. A sarcastic or humorous application of the conventional sense found in such words as 'aristocrat', 'democrat', 'plutocrat', etc. The root in most conventional senses ends with an 'o'; in colloquial or journalistic usage the 'o' is generally incorporated UK, 1937