Crossword clues for gumption
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Gumption \Gump"tion\, n. [OE. gom, gome, attention; akin to AS. ge['o]mian, gyman, to regard, observe, gyme care, OS. gomean to heed, Goth. gaumjan to see, notice.]
-
Capacity; shrewdness; common sense. [Colloq.]
One does not have gumption till one has been properly cheated.
--Lord Lytton. -
(Paint.)
The art of preparing colors.
--Sir W. Scott.Megilp.
--Fairholt.
initiative; resourcefulness.
Courage; guts.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1719, originally Scottish, "common sense, shrewdness," also "drive, initiative," possibly connected with Middle English gome "attention, heed," from Old Norse gaumr "heed, attention." Sense of "initiative" is first recorded 1812.
Wiktionary
n. 1 Energy of mind and body, enthusiasm. 2 Boldness of enterprise; initiative or aggressiveness, guts; spunk; initiative.
WordNet
n. sound practical judgment; "I can't see the sense in doing it now"; "he hasn't got the sense God gave little green apples"; "fortunately she had the good sense to run away" [syn: common sense, good sense, horse sense, sense, mother wit]
fortitude and determination; "he didn't have the guts to try it" [syn: backbone, grit, guts, moxie, sand]
Wikipedia
Gumption is a common word of the English language; see the entry gumption in Wiktionary.
There are a number of articles related to the word in Wikipedia and Wiktionary:
- (UK usage) common sense
- (US usage) courage, resourcefulness
- Gumption™ is a household cleaning product which was originally sold in the United Kingdom as a bathroom cleaning paste from the 1920s, where it is now a spray multicleaner. The paste product is still available in Australia.
Usage examples of "gumption".
Now that she had gotten up the gumption to try to do something about it, she just had to succeed.
It was apparent that the centaur had lacked the gumption to tackle something she found objectionable.
One person must do it--someone with gumption, that no one will notice.
She would gladly have traded some of her useless gumption for a bit more social sensitivity.
She had reviewed them in her mind while dressing, and saw that Silhouette knew what needed to be done, as she had said, but had lacked the gumption, as she had confessed.
Her heart was pounding, but she was in the gumption mode and it had but one direction: onward.
You had gumption, but lacked experience with people, so it enabled you to meet many.
He was aware that the backslid gumption referred to was Billy Dwight, his twenty-two-year-old employer.
If he had gumption, and high standards of gumption, there was plenty of reason for that.
Tombstone gave Jane a sketchy but vigorous idea of his opinions on gumption, as distinct from bull-headedness.
The girl took after her mother, which meant, after all, that the Mackinson gumption was likely to end with him in his grave.
Billy Dwight has more gumption than anybody but a Mackinson ever thought of, you hear?
Deli Gold had a lot of spit and gumption for a kid of twenty--He frowned.
Mr Umbleby should go, there was nothing for him left but to fall into the ready hands of Messrs Gumption, Gazebee and Gazebee.
It must not be supposed that Messrs Gumption, Gazebee and Gazebee were in the least like the ordinary run of attorneys.