Spanish Hist. [ad. Sp. tragalismo, f. trágala in ‘Trágala, perro!’ (‘Swallow it, dog!,’ where ‘it’ refers to the Constitution), the refrain of a popular Constitutionalist song.] A designation for the principles of the Spanish Constitutional party of 1820 and succeeding years.
1837. Q. Rev., July, 68. The bloody tragedy of Spanish Tragalism.
1837. Walton, Revol. of Spain, II. xii. 325. It was wished … merely to modify the existing plan so as to render it palatable abroad while tragalism was enforced at home.
[In Smart 1849, Suppl., Tragalism (entered with a reference to Q. Rev. as above, but no quot.) is explained as ‘Goatishness due to high feeding.’ This absurd guess, based on a pseudo-etymological reference to Gr. τραγαλισμός (‘the eating of dried fruits and sweetmeats,’ but imagined to be derived from τράγος goat) has been copied (with ingenious variations) in many recent dictionaries.]
