Crossword clues for brummagem
brummagem
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Brummagem \Brum"ma*gem\, a. [Birmingham (formerly Bromwycham),
Eng., ``the great mart and manufactory of gilt toys, cheap
jewelry,'' etc.]
Counterfeit; gaudy but worthless; sham. [Slang] ``These
Brummagem gentry.''
--Lady D. Hardy.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"cheap and showy," 19c., from a noun, from the vulgar pronunciation of Birmingham, England, in reference to articles mass-manufactured there. The word also recalls Birmingham's old reputation for counterfeiting.
Wiktionary
a. cheap and showy; meretricious.
Wikipedia
Brummagem (and historically also Bromichan, Bremicham and many similar variants, all essentially "Bromwich-ham") is the local name for the city of Birmingham, England, and the dialect associated with it. It gave rise to the terms Brum (a shortened version of Brummagem) and Brummie (applied to inhabitants of the city, their accent and dialect, and frequently West Midlanders and their accents in general).
Brummagem and Brummagem ware are also terms for cheap and shoddy imitations, in particular when referring to mass-produced goods. This use is archaic in the UK, but persists in some specialist areas in the USA and Australia.
Usage examples of "brummagem".
The Church must go, it is the haven of the booboisie, of boobs and bounders and all Brummagem mountebanks.
He scratched his checking board, making some sort of pretense not clear to me, but plainly a form of hypocrisy, a ruse from the depths of his brummagem soul, scratching away like a rat, an uncultured rat, and I hated him so much I could have bitten off his finger and spat it in his face.
I despised him, a low person, a boob of limited vocabulary, unable to express his own thoughts, however nasty, except through the brummagem medium of foul language.
I shall be forced to suppress you, Lady Anne, though you are the wife of a Brummagem knight, and I think that it is time you had a little reminder.
I thought it was an easy way for a nobleman to make as good a living as your City swells, with their soft goods or their Brummagem ware, a respectable trade for a gentleman to engage in.
I came back to Brummagem in under three hours, and I only stopped when I reached the top of Globe Hill at the back of Ribsmore.
The Brummagem sing-song inlaid with suburban gentility scraped my nerves.
Dialling 100, I conjured out a genteel Brummagem voice, laying it on thick.
Thirty miles from Brummagem and I felt better, or at least my gut did.
I were a kid-over the other side of Brummagem at Riddington-we were always short of the ready.
A Kru boy welcomed them with beaming face and fetched them drinks upon a Brummagem tray.
Money, though obviously essential on occasion, usually had a bad effect on intelligence - for his part he had never touched a Brummagem farthing for his services- and money in such exorbitant, unnatural amounts might be very bad indeed, endangering all those who came into contact with it.
I expect we are all agreed that attempted murder is not in the best possible taste and a vague distribution of brummagem haloes will not persuade us to alter our opinion.
It is not much, some card tricks to perform at a conference of Brummagem businessmen in a London hotel, and the fee is only half a guinea, but this is a red-letter day!
In the end, shall our soldiers fight naked, no help for them under the sun-- And never a cartridge to stick in the breech of a Brummagem gun?