gombeen
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of gombeen
1860–65; < Irish gaimbín interest, especially exorbitant interest, literally, bit, small piece, diminutive of gamba lump, hunk
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.
But the gombeen man wasn't "taking it lying down."
From What's the Matter with Ireland? by Russell, Ruth
But the gombeen man presented him with a bill for twenty-one shillings and three pence.
From What's the Matter with Ireland? by Russell, Ruth
The gombeen man refuses accounts to everyone but the priest, magistrate, doctor and teacher.
From What's the Matter with Ireland? by Russell, Ruth
I slackened and saw them drop into the road and there remain, mystified, no doubt, by the astonishing variety of scents, from goat to gombeen man, that presented themselves.
From In Mr. Knox's Country by Ross, Martin
The farmers were at the mercy of the gombeen traders and the agricultural middlemen.
From The National Being Some Thoughts on an Irish Polity by Russell, George William
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.
