gomeral

gomeral

English

Alternative forms

• gomeril

Etymology

Diminutive (by way of -rel) of Middle English gōme (“man, warrior, husband, male servant”), Old English guma (“male, hero”), from Proto-Germanic *gumô (“man, person”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰmṓ (“man, person”). More at groom.

Noun

gomeral (plural gomerals)

1. (chiefly Scotland, now rare) Fool, simpleton.
   • 1856, The Eclectic Magazine of Foreign Literature, Science, and Art:

     […] to the apparent delectation of immense audiences of gaping gomerals, but to the intense disgust of all sensible people.

   • 1875, The Story of Valentine, and his Brother, chapter XXXIX, in The Living Age, volume 124, page 563:

     "But, you gomeral, you belong to my class, and not to your own!" said the old lord, feeling, with a mixture of pain and amusement and impatience, his own ignorance before the superior and melancholy knowledge of life possessed by this boy.

   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, Kidnapped

     The same faithful gomeral is to despatch this letter by the express along with those of the wiseacres, so that you may hear Tom Fool in company with Solomon.

Anagrams

• glomera