mogul

Meanings

Noun

• A rich or powerful person; a magnate.
• A hump or bump on a skiing piste.
• A larger-sized (39 mm diameter) screw base used for large, high-power light bulbs, known as mogul (screw) base light bulbs.
• A machine that forms shaped candies from syrups or gels.

Verb

• To ski over a course of humps or bumps.

Origin

• Figurative use of Moghul, which originally meant Mongol, or person of Mongolian descent. In this context, it refers to the Mughal Empire (mughal being Persian or Arabic for "Mongol") of the Indian Subcontinent that existed between 1526 and 1857: the early Mughal emperors claimed a heritage dating back to the Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. The modern meaning of the word is supposedly derived from the storied riches of the Mughal emperors, which, for example, produced the Taj Mahal.
• From dialectal German Mugel or from dialectal Norwegian mugje.