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frump

[fruhmp]
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noun
  1. a person who is dowdy, drab, and unattractive.
  2. a dull, old-fashioned person.
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Origin of frump

First recorded in 1545–55; origin uncertain
Related formsfrump·ish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for frump

Historical Examples

  • Frump,—the word calls up the exact picture; frump and fatuity.

    The Place of Honeymoons

    Harold MacGrath

  • “The frump, as you call her, is usually a countess or a duchess,” with asperity.

  • No one ever regained my favour by making a frump of herself.

    Hypolympia

    Edmund Gosse

  • Billings waved his hand to the frump as he mounted the stairway inside.

    The Haunted Pajamas

    Francis Perry Elliott

  • And this was the frump's father, and it was for him she was scheming to make a home!

    The Haunted Pajamas

    Francis Perry Elliott

British Dictionary definitions for frump

frump

noun
  1. a woman who is dowdy, drab, or unattractive
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Word Origin

C16 (in the sense: to be sullen; C19: dowdy woman): from Middle Dutch verrompelen to wrinkle, rumple
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for frump

n.

"cross, unstylish person" 1817, perhaps from frumple (v.) "to wrinkle" (late 14c.), from Middle Dutch verrompelen "to wrinkle" (see frumpy).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper