honcho

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hon·cho / ˈhänchō/ inf. • n. (pl. -chos) a leader or manager; the person in charge: the company's head honcho in the U.S.• v. (-choes, -choed) [tr.] be in charge of (a project or situation): the task at hand was to honcho an eighteen-wheeler to St. Louis.ORIGIN: 1940s: from Japanese hanchō ‘group leader,’ a term brought back to the U.S. by servicemen stationed in Japan during the occupation following World War II.

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