ombliferous
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English
Etymology
Coined by British comic writer Edward Lear.
Adjective
ombliferous (comparative more ombliferous, superlative most ombliferous)
- A nonsense word of vague negative connotation.
- 1846, Edward Lear, The Book of Nonsense:
- There was an old person of Crete,
Whose toilet was far from complete,
She dressed in a sack
Spickle-speckled with black,
That ombliferous old person of Crete.
- 1892, John Hay, Letters of John Hay and Extracts From Diary, volume II, published 1969, page 241:
- The Corporation of Western Reserve University, with entire unanimity and ombliferous enthusiasm, made you to-day an LL. D. It is no small shakes of a hayseed College, I would have you know.
- 2016, Earle Looker, Arthur Hayne Mitchell, Colonel Roosevelt and the White House Gang:
- “Don't be so ombliferous,” he said. My jaw dropped. The word was new.