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A.Word.A.Day--goombah

This week's theme: Slang/informal terms

goombah (GOOM-bah) noun

1. Friend, accomplice, or crony.
2. Godfather or mentor.
3. Gangster or Mafioso.

[Dialectal pronunciation of Italian compa, a clipping of compare (godfather, friend, or accomplice), from Latin compater, from com- (with) + pater (father).]

"It was his goombahs. It's the first rule in the underworld: It is not your enemies you have to worry about, it's your friends."
Boston's Mobsters a Dysfunctional Family; Boston Globe; Jan 11, 1995.

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