A filibuster is when a speaker in a legislative body refuses to yield the floor and continues to speak for so long that action can`t be taken. To be really effective, it must involve more than one individual.
The term filibuster was used in the 1840`s and 1850`s for adventurers trying to seize control of land in Central America. It was first used in the parliamentary sense during the debates of the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854.
The filibuster has been eliminated by the rules of the House of Represntatives, with filibuster by speaking ended in 1842 and by absence in 1890, but is still a feature in the United States Senate. A filibuster can be ended by a vote of 60 senators in a procedure called "cloture."