gombeen
/ɡɒmˈbiːn/
gombeen noun: usury.
Noun
gombeen (countable and uncountable, plural gombeens)
- Usury.
- A moneylender during the Great Famine.
- It was said by some that he had been a moneylender back in Ireland; a ‘gombeen’ in their slang: a hated figure.2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage, published 2003, page xix
- A mean, underhanded, corrupt person. Usually applied to politicians.
- "Could you give me two ounces of butter?"
"Well, I don't know. We sell butter usually by the weight half pound or a pound."
"Do you sell quarter pounds?"
"Well, I think so."
"Could you give me half a quarter pound?"
"Yes."
"Half a quarter pound then."
Sebastian watching him. O you sly gombeen man....1955, J P Donleavy, The Ginger Man, France, published 1955 (France), page 108
- "Could you give me two ounces of butter?"
Adjective
gombeen
- Corrupt, underhanded.
- They were talking gombeen politics.
gombeen meaning in Tamil and Bengali
gombeen in Tamil
- கடுவட்டி வாங்குதல், கருவட்டி வாங்குதல்
gombeen in Bengali
- সুদখোরি, সময়কার একজন মহাজন, একজন হীন, কপট, দুর্নীতিগ্রস্ত ব্যক্তি, সাধারণত রাজনীতিবিদদের ক্ষেত্রে প্রযোজ্য
Forms of gombeen
| plural | gombeens |
|---|
Origin of gombeen
Borrowed from Irish gaimbín (“monetary interest”).
Words formed from gombeen
Words that rhyme with gombeen
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- glean
- between
- byzantine
- canteen
- greene
- preen
- Racine
- careen
- intervene
- lean
- wean
- Christine
- obscene
- routine
- skene
- spleen
- submarine
- cuisine
- gasoline
- irene
- red bean
- serene
- -ene
- baleen
- demean
- eleventeen
- fascine
- latrine
- pristine
- Qazvin
- sheen
- tangerine
- unclean
- unseen
- vaccine
- amine
- aquamarine
- Beane
- beseen
- bottine
- chopine
- Enigma machine
- Eugene
- gene
- in between
- internecine
- jean
- lien
Questions about gombeen
- What does gombeen mean?
- Gombeen means usury.
- What is gombeen in Tamil?
- Gombeen in Tamil is கடுவட்டி வாங்குதல், கருவட்டி வாங்குதல். See Gombeen meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is gombeen?
- Gombeen can be a noun or an adjective.
- How do you pronounce gombeen?
- Gombeen is pronounced /ɡɒmˈbiːn/.
- What is the plural of gombeen?
- The plural of gombeen is gombeens.
Words near gombeen in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: gombeen (page history and authors); gombeen (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); gombeen (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “gombeen.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gombeen. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.