GUMMIDGE

PRONUNCIATION: (GUH-mij)

MEANING: noun: A peevish, pessimistic person.

ETYMOLOGY: After Mrs Gummidge, a grumpy old widow in Charles Dickens’s novel David Copperfield (1850). She likes to say, “I am a lone lorn creetur’ ... and everythink goes contrairy with me.” Earliest documented use: 1873.
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GLUMMIDGE - pessimist; one who is always down in the mouth (no, silly, not your dentist)

GUMMI-DOGE - a miniature jelly candy in the shape of a Venetian magistrate

GUNMIDGE - a tiny insect that fouls your rifle barrel and causes your shot to miss

GUMRIDGE - what your teeth plug into (see "alveolar ridge")