3. (common).—A dullard; a fool. For synonyms, see Buffle and
Cabbage-head.
Adj. (common).—Puffed; swollen; clumsy.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. Gummey, clumsy, particularly
applied to the ancles of men, or women, and the legs of horses.
To feel Gummy, verb. phr. (University).—To perspire.
Gump, subs. (common).—A dolt. For synonyms, see Buffle and
Cabbage-head.
1825. Neal, Bro. Jonathan, bk. II., ch. xv. He’s ... sort of a
nateral too, I guess; rather a gump, hey?
Gumption, subs. (colloquial).—Cleverness; understanding; nous (q.v.).
Also Rum Gumption.
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue. Gumption, or rum gumption, s.v.,
docility, comprehension, capacity.
1787. Grose, Prov. Glossary, s.v. ‘Gawm.’ Gawm, to understand; I
dinna gawm ye, I don’t understand you. Hence, possibly, gawmtion,
or gumption, understanding.
1834. Atlantic Club-book, I., 33. D’ye think I’m a fellow of no
more gumption than that?
1843. Comic Almanack. Poor beasts, ’tis very clear, To any one
possess’d of gumption, That if they’d not come over here, They’d
have been carried off by home consumption.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. IV., ch. xii. Gumption—it means
cleverness.
1883. Daily Telegraph, 25 June, p. 3, c. 2. But poor
people—leastways, those that have got any gumption—know better than
that.
1890. Notes and Queries, 7 S., x., 303. As familiar as the Greek
word nous for what ... is known ... as gumption.
Gumptious, adj. (colloquial).—Shrewd; intelligent; vain.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. IV., ch. xii. Landlord. There’s
gumption and gumptious! Gumption is knowing, but when I say that
sum un is gumptious, I mean—though that’s more vulgar like—sum un
who does not think small beer of hisself. You take me, sir?
Gum-smasher (or tickler), subs. (common).—A dentist. For synonyms, see
Snag-catcher.
Gum-suck, verb. (American).—To flatter; to humbug; to dupe. For
synonyms, see Gammon.
Gum-sucker, subs. (Australian).—1. See quot. Cf., Corn-stalk.
1887. All the Year Round, 30 July, p. 67. A gum-sucker is a native
of Tasmania, and owes his elegant nickname to the abundance of
gum-trees in the Tasmanian forests.