circumbendibus
Americannoun
plural
circumbendibusesnoun
Etymology
Origin of circumbendibus
1675–85; circum- + bend 1 + Latin -ibus ablative plural ending
Explanation
Anything circumbendibus is rambling and roundabout. If you’re late for school, you could explain to the teacher that construction work blocked the road, forcing you to take a circumbendibus that added half a mile to your drive. The teacher may or may not be impressed. The word circumbendibus isn't used as much as it used to be. It was more common in the 17th and 18th centuries. A circumbendibus can be any roundabout route, or it could be something said in a roundabout way. The word can also be used as an adjective: For example, you might read, “After his lengthy, circumbendibus digression, he finally got to the point of the story." The word is built from the combining form circum-, "around"; the English word bend; and a deliberately misapplied Latin ending, -ibus, to humorously fancy it up.
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.
Footnote 1: Schalttag, lit. 'intercalary day'--used of the 29th of February in leap years--impossible to translate except by a circumbendibus.
From The Wine-ghosts of Bremen by Hauff, Wilhelm
I’m goin’ to ask one of you fellers to ride away up north and foller them sheepmen down, so they can’t come a circumbendibus on us again.
From Hidden Water by Dixon, Maynard
Divil such a circumbendibus ever a man had as I had in gettin' as far as the nose, where I had to give up until this evenin' as I said.
From The Black Baronet; or, The Chronicles Of Ballytrain The Works of William Carleton, Volume One by Carleton, William
Reality has to be returned to, after this long circumbendibus, though Gavroche has it already.
From The Letters of William James, Vol. II by James, William
And homeward, by the short small chimes of day, With many a circumbendibus to spare, For instance, twice round Finsbury Square, To use a fitting phrase, he wound his way.
From The Poetical Works of Thomas Hood by Hood, Thomas
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.
