brummagem
adjective
showy but inferior and worthless.
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brummagem
American
[bruhm-uh-juhm]
/ ˈbrʌm ə dʒəm /
adjective
noun
Brummagem
British
/ ˈbrʌmədʒəm /
noun
-
Often shortened to: Brum. an informal name for Birmingham
-
(sometimes not capital) something that is cheap and flashy, esp imitation jewellery
adjective
Etymology
Origin of brummagem
First recorded in 1675–85; local variant of Birmingham, England (compare Bromwichham, Bromecham (17th century), Middle English Burmingeham ); originally in allusion to counterfeit coins produced there in the 17th century
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The audience descended safely, opened their eyes, found themselves once more in the brummagem Astor ballroom.
From Time Magazine Archive
Theatre needs all the expert make-up and massage that Playwrights Bolton & Maugham know how to apply, all the stage presence and vivacity that Cornelia Otis Skinner brings to the role of the brummagem heroine.
From Time Magazine Archive
Climax of the whole brummagem business was the "Zoro Gardens."
From Time Magazine Archive
To the feeble hope, ordinarily, of some sort of brummagem Utopia of creature-comforts, characterized by equality of condition, uniformity of life and thought, pervasive state regulation and the obliteration of traditional morality.
From Time Magazine Archive
W. "SHIBBOLETHS" LILLY—delivered an excellent lecture on the Papal-Italian question, and although at Birmingham, it was by no means a brummagem discourse.
From Punch, Or The London Charivari, Volume 102, March 12, 1892 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
