Lō'co-fō'co, n.
n. [According to some etymologists, from Lat. loco foci, instead of fire; according to Bartlett, it was called so from a self-lighting cigar, with a match composition at the end, invented in 1834 by John Marck in New York, and called by him loco-foco cigar, a word coined in imitation of the word locomotive, which by the vulgar was supposed to mean self-moving.]
Sense 1. A friction match. [U. S.]
Sense 2. A member of the Democratic party. [U. S.]
The name was applied, in 1834, to the extreme portion of the Democratic party, because, at a meeting in Tammany Hall, New York, in which there was great diversity of sentiment, the chairman left his seat, and the lights were extinguished, with a view to dissolve the meeting; when those in favor of extreme measures produced loco-foco matches, rekindled the lights, continued the meeting, and accomplished their object.