Which means
What does
mean?To the victor move the spoils (or to the victor belong the spoils) is a proverbial expression, meaning that the winner of a competition now not simply wins the topic of the competition, however receives all further advantages as neatly.
The expression can be utilized in all eventualities the place a race, war or festival is concerned.
For example, if a sports activities workforce wins a high-level festival, we will be able to say to the victor move the spoils, since the workforce will indisputably obtain all monetary bonuses atop of the name win.
See the 🔝 maximum used slang phrases in this day and age.
Beginning
What is the foundation of
?Historic literature displays that “spolia optima” (“very best spoils” in Latin) used to be a recurrently used time period in Roman occasions.
It referred to victorious commanders, who would obtain the defeated officials’ items and riches.
The precise foundation of the expression, alternatively, comes from American politics from the nineteenth century.
It used to be a reference to the spoils machine, which used to be a political time table that used to be located round cronyism and nepotism.
Unfold and Usage
How did
unfold?The first recognized consumer of to the victor move the spoils used to be William L. Marcy, a New York senator, who uttered the expression in 1828.
The proverb then changed into increasingly more widespread in politics, that includes in a lot of speeches and caricatures alike.
Additionally it is from time to time featured in TV and cinema. As an example, the time period seemed in the TV collection The Sopranos, uttered by means of Tony Soprano all through the second one episode of Season 2.