ˈplace-ˌhunter
One who seeks persistently for a place or post in the public service. (With unfavourable connotation: cf. placeman.)
| 1713 Steele Guard. No. 29 ¶16 The Ionick laugh..is esteemed by judicious place-hunters a more particular mark of distinction than the whisper. 1812 Examiner 19 Oct. 666/1 Place-hunters and Fortune-hunters. 1898 Bodley France II. iv. vii. 434 Moderate men who are not place-hunters, and are therefore impartial witnesses. |
So ˈplace-hunting n. and a.
| 1823 in W. Cobbett Rur. Rides (1885) I. 276 A place-hunting lawyer. 1860 Mill Repr. Govt. (1865) 34/2 Place-hunting..is a form of ambition to which the English..are almost strangers. 1898 Bodley France II. iii. v. 257 The place-hunting solicitations of constituents. |