Georgian · insult · noun
Gollumpus
guh-LUM-puspronunciation reconstructed — no period source gives it
First recordedby 1785
A large, clumsy, loutish fellow. It is known almost only from Grose's dictionary and the later editions that copied it.
Where it was first recorded
Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785 (no earlier record known)
In its own time
GOLLUMPUS. A large, clumsy fellow.
Today
Modern exampleMind the vase, you great gollumpus.
Harmless and fun as a jokey word for a clumsy big person, but few people will know it.
Questions
What does gollumpus mean?
A large, clumsy, loutish fellow. It is known almost only from Grose's dictionary and the later editions that copied it.
When was gollumpus first used?
It is first recorded by 1785 — Grose, A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1785 (no earlier record known).
Can you still use gollumpus today?
Harmless and fun as a jokey word for a clumsy big person, but few people will know it.
Sources
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, Francis Grose, 1st edition (London: S. Hooper, 1785) — Internet Archive (scan + OCR)
- A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 edition, 'Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue'), Francis Grose — Project Gutenberg eBook #5402
- gollumpus, n. — Green's Dictionary of Slang
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: rare — genuine, but marked rare, obsolete or archaic, or seldom recorded, in the dictionaries listed above