bumble puppy
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English
[edit]Alternative forms
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Of unknown origin.
Noun
[edit]- (now historical) A game in which players attempt to project metal balls into nine holes in a flat wooden board; nineholes. [from 18th c.]
- (now rare) Any of various childish or informal games. [from 19th c.]
- 1908, EM Forster, A Room With A View, Penguin 2018, p. 104:
- Cecil was absent—one did not play bumble-puppy when he was there.
- 1908, EM Forster, A Room With A View, Penguin 2018, p. 104:
- (card games) A simplified form of whist; whist or bridge played unskilfully. [from 19th c.]
- 1947, W. Somerset Maugham, Creatures of Circumstance:
- Templeton isn't the sort of chap to play bumble-puppy bridge with a girl like that unless he's getting something out of it.
- 1947, W. Somerset Maugham, Creatures of Circumstance:
- Swingball or tetherball. [from 19th c.]
Derived terms
[edit]Further reading
[edit]- “bumble puppy”, in Collins English Dictionary.
- “bumble puppy”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
- “bumble-puppy, n.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.