/mah"fee euh, maf"ee euh/ , n.
1. a hierarchically structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficking in narcotics, and other criminal activities in the U.S., Italy, and elsewhere.
2. (in Sicily)
a. ( l.c. ) a popular spirit of hostility to legal restraint and to the law, often manifesting itself in criminal acts.
b. a 19th-century secret society, similar to the Camorra in Naples, that acted in this spirit.
3. ( often l.c. ) any small powerful or influential group in an organization or field; clique.
Also, Maffia .
[ 1870-75; ]