Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: after Alexander Throttlebottom, character in the musical comedy Of Thee I Sing (1932) by George S. Kaufman b1899 & Morris Ryskind b1895 American playwrights
: an innocuously inept and futile person in public office
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/throt"l bot'euhm/, n. (sometimes l.c.)
a harmless incompetent in public office.
[after Alexander Throttlebottom, character in Of Thee I Sing (1932), musical comedy by George S. Kaufman and Morris Ryskind]
Useful english dictionary. 2012.