A refusal to trade with the person, company, or country boycotted. The name comes from a 19th-century Irish land agent unpopular with his master’s tenants. A boycott may involve refusal to buy goods and services from somebody, or to sell to them. A secondary boycott extends this to anybody who does not join in the original boycott. While it is hard to make a boycott completely effective, as trade can usually be conducted secretly or indirectly, this involves delay, expense, and inconvenience. A boycott is thus an effective form of pressure on individuals, firms, or countries whose conduct or opinions are widely disapproved of.