Smoke-filled room
April 23, 2007
smoke-filled room /smok fild room/ n. figurative. Place behind the scenes where politicians choose candidates. Origin: Suite 804-805 of the old Blackstone Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, where Republican bosses on June 10, 1920, chose Warren G. Harding as candidate for president. Increasingly archaic. See: Smoking bans. See: Latte-filled room.