Carbonari

1 definition found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Carbonaro \Car`bo*na"ro\, n.; pl. {Carbonari}. [It., a coal
     man.]
     A member of a secret political association in Italy,
     organized in the early part of the nineteenth centry for the
     purpose of changing the government into a republic.
     [1913 Webster]


  
     Note: The origin of the Carbonari is uncertain, but the
           society is said to have first met, in 1808, among the
           charcoal burners of the mountains, whose phraseology
           they adopted.
           [1913 Webster]