Noun

(en noun)

*1888 , , The Modern Warning .

*:'... Isn't he a kind of nobleman?' Macarthy asked.

'Well no, not exactly a nobleman.'

'Well, some kind of a panjandarum . Hasn't he got one of their titles?'

'Yes, but not a very high one,' Agatha explained. 'He's only a K.C.B. And also an M.P.'

Noun

(en noun)

An important, powerful or influential person.

* 1755 , 's claim that he could accurately recite any paragraph of text after a single reading),

So he died, / and she very imprudently married the Barber: / and there were present / the Picninnies, / and the Joblillies, / and the Garyulies, / and the great Panjandrum himself, / with the little round button at top;

* 1910 , , Making of America Project, Robert S. Littell, Living age ...'' (''Littell's Living Age ), Volume 265, page 809,

I think it's an excellent thing that the Great Panjandrum is coming for the week-end. Have you ever met him in private?"

I ought to explain that the Great Panjandrum was the nickname for Lord Elkindale, the then Foreign Secretary.

* 1917 , ,

But my family has served the Panjandrums' of Beotia faithfully for seven centuries. The ' Panjandrums have kept our place for us at their courts, honored us, promoted us, shed their glory on us, made us what we are.

A self-important or pretentious person.

* 1910 , ,

You can never imagine how delighted I was to find that instead of being the correct sort of big panjandrum you were supposed to be, you were really an old rip like papa.

(military) A massive, rocket-propelled, explosive-laden cart designed by the British military during World War II.

* 1967 , John Winton, The War At Sea, 1939-1945: An Anthology of Personal Experience , page 304,

The Panjandrum lurched and overturned, the crash dislodging several of the rockets, which flew low over the beach in all directions .

* {{quote-book

, year=2003 , author=Neil A. Downie , title=Ink Sandwiches, Electric Worms, and 37 Other Experiments for Saturday Science , chapter=14 , isbn=0801874106 , page=115 , passage=The idea was that the Panjandrum , a kind of explosion-driven Ferris wheel, would be set rotating and then released into shallow water to roll up onto enemy beaches.}}