Pooh-bah

//ˈpuːbɑː// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative form of poobah. alt-of, alternative

    "It is consequently my degrading duty to serve this upstart as First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Back Stairs, Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor, both acting and elect, all rolled into one. And at a salary! A Pooh-Bah paid for his services!"

  2. 2
    Alternative form of poobah. alt-of, alternative
  3. 3
    an arrogant or conceited person of importance wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
high-muck-a-muck

Example

More examples

"It is consequently my degrading duty to serve this upstart as First Lord of the Treasury, Lord Chief Justice, Commander-in-Chief, Lord High Admiral, Master of the Buckhounds, Groom of the Back Stairs, Archbishop of Titipu, and Lord Mayor, both acting and elect, all rolled into one. And at a salary! A Pooh-Bah paid for his services!"

Etymology

From Pooh-Bah, a comic character in the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta The Mikado (1885).

Related phrases

grand poobah

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.