Dictionary

dumbledore en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• (Australia) audio
• /ˈdʌm.bəl.dɔːɹ/ (US)
• /ˈdʌm.bəl.dɔː/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

Compound of dumble (similar to bumble) + dor (“a buzzing flying insect”).

Meanings

1. (archaic, dialectal) A bumblebee.
   • Those slopes of fresh turf, embroidered with every minute blossom of the moor — thyme, birdsfoot, eyebright, and dwarf purple thistle, buzzed and hummed over by busy, black-tailed, yellow-banded dumbledores. 1875, Charlotte M Yonge, The Daisy Chain:
   • Now and then a dumbledore or ‘busy bee’ as they are called by some, propelled itself across our path, they being extremely large and heavy this year. 1970 May 21, Evening Telegram, page 3:
   • A dumbledore, lured from the plantation, lies on its back, leaping and churning upon Seth’s bright pages. 1987, Seán Virgo, Selakhi, Exile Editions, Ltd., page 20:
   • A shaded lamp and a waving blind, / And the beat of a clock from a distant floor: / On this scene enter – winged, horned, and spined – / A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore — 1899, Thomas Hardy, An August Midnight:
2. (dialectal) A beetle, typically a cockchafer or dung beetle.
   • others may need to be informd that a blastnashun straddlebob is a dumbledore, that is to say, a polyonymous lamellicorn coleopter, cald also a dorbeetle, a dorbug, a maybeetle, a maybug, a cockchafer, a Melolontha vulgaris. 1964, American Philological Association, “Transactions of the American Philological Association”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Ginn & Co., page 267:
3. (dialectal) A dandelion.
   • The Dandelion has a number of common names in Newfoundland. These include Dumbledore, Faceclock, and Piss-a-beds. 1975, Peter J. Scott, Edible Fruits and Herbs of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Memorial University Oxen Pond Botanical Park, page 39:
4. (slang) A blundering person.
   • “Miserable dumbledores!” / “Right, William, and so they be—miserable dumbledores!” said the choir with unanimity. 1872, [Thomas Hardy], chapter 4, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Tinsley Brothers, →OCLC, (please specify |part=I to V):

Forms

Deriveds

Dumbledorian · Dumbledore

Translations (1)

fi tomppeli (blundering person)