LOBBY  , a

corridor or passage, also any apartment serving as an ante-room, waiting room or entrance hall in a building . The Med . Lat. lobia, laubia or lobium, from which the word was directly adapted, was used in the sense of a cloister, gallery or covered place for walking attached to a house, as defined by Du Cange (Gloss . Med. et Inf . Lat., s.v . Lobia), porticus operta ad spatiandum idonea, aedibus adjuncta . The French form of lobia was loge, cf . Ital. loggia, and this gave the Eng . " lodge," which is thus a doublet of " lobby." The ultimate derivation is given under LODGE . Other familiar uses of the term "lobby" are its application (I) to the entrance hall of a parliament house, and (2) to the two corridors known as " division-lobbies," into which the members of the House of Commons and other legislative bodies pass on a division, their votes being recorded according to which "lobby," "aye" or "no," they enter . The entrance lobby to a legislative building is open to the public, and thus is a convenient place for interviews between members and their constituents or with representatives of public bodies, associations and interests, and the press . The influence and pressure thus brought to bear upon members of legislative bodies has given rise to the use of "to lobby," "lobbying," "lobbyist," &c., with this special significance .

The practice, though not unknown in the

British parliament, is most prevalent in the United States of America, where the use of the term first arose (see below) .