Dictionary

gormy en · ADJ · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɔːmi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɡɔɹmi/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Either: * from gorm (“fool; one who is undiscerning”) + -y (suffix forming adjectives meaning ‘having the quality of’); or * a variant of gaumy (“awkward”), from gaum (“to stare idly or vacantly; to gape, gaze; to be awkward or stupid; a lout; a gaping, idle fellow”) + -y.

Meanings

1. (New-England, Northern-England, UK, US, not-comparable) Awkward, clumsy, klutzy, ungainly.
   • Just the sort of place gormy Eugene would pick to hold a family get-together. 2010 March, Pat Cunningham, chapter 4, in A London Werewolf in America, [Austin, Tex.]: Siren-BookStrand, →ISBN, page 32:
   • Kimball was never one to argue with a comrade's eyes and ears, not even those of a gormy jeezer like Connolly. 1990, Maurice Shadbolt, Monday’s Warriors: […], Auckland: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN, page 5:
   • And not always with finesse — the Lombard clanked and churned, and a man who is like a regular Lombard may be a bit gormy and sometimes apply brute strength when he might do the work easier if he'd stop and think a little. 1990, John Gould, There Goes Maine!: A Somewhat History, Sort of, of the Pine Tree State, New York, N.Y.: Norton, →ISBN, page 1187:
   • The Killian boy was carrying a chair, and making difficulties with it; he was what old-time Yankees would have called "a gormy lad." 2009, Stephen King, chapter 23, in Under the Dome: […], New York, N.Y.: Scribner, →ISBN, page 682:

Relateds

gawming · gorming · gaum · gorm · gaumy · gawm

Synonyms

gorming

gormy en · ADJ · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• /ˈɡɔːmi/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˈɡɔɹmi/ (General-American)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From gorm, gaum (“to smear; grime (noun)”) + -y.

Meanings

1. (Southern-US, UK, US, alt-of, alternative, not-comparable) Alternative spelling of gaumy (“sticky, smeared with something sticky; grimy”).
   alt of gaumy
   • The first thing you have got to do is to wash them gormy 'ands [...] 1914, Edward [Henry] Peple, The Prince Chap: A Comedy in Three Acts, New York, N.Y.; London: Samuel French, →OCLC, act II, page 50:
   • When I bought my tamarinds I eat one or two and then discovered that I had left my handkerchief at home, my hands were a little gormy, so I washed them in Frog Pond. 1916 June 22, Abigail Clarke, quoting Edward Everett Hale, “Edward Everett Hale at Harvard College. IV. (1835–39.)”, in The Christian Register, volume 95, number 25, Boston, Mass.: Christian Register Association, →OCLC, page 583, column 1: