This week's theme
Eponyms

This week's words
pecksniffian
smellfungus
falstaffian
milquetoast
bumbledom


This week's comments
AWADmail 592

Next week's theme
Words borrowed from Yiddish

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A.Word.A.Day

PRONUNCIATION:

(BUHM-buhl-duhm)

MEANING:

noun: Behavior characteristic of a pompous and self-important petty official.

ETYMOLOGY:

After Mr. Bumble in Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist. Bumble was a fussy, self-important beadle (a minor parish officer) of the workhouse where Oliver Twist was born. Earliest documented use: 1856.

USAGE:

"We regret to record the death of Albury-Wodonga with a hyphen. ... Bumbledom in the two councils has decreed the hyphen must go from stationery and signs."
Howard Jones; Political Doublespeak is Sad Legacy for Border Folk; The Border Mail (Wodonga, Australia); Aug 23, 2007.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY: