micawber
US/mɪˈkɒbər/
micawber is the alternative letter-case form of Micawber.
Noun capitalized: Micawber
Micawber (plural Micawbers)
- A person who is poor but eternally optimistic, believing that "something will turn up", like the fictional character Wilkins Micawber in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.
- As it is I see Destitution and Despair ahead of me, and have begun an epitaph in the Micawber style for my future grave in the precincts of my native County's jail.1862, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Yale Edition of the Swinburne Letters, 1854-1869, Volume 1, Yale, published 1959, page 65
- ... a state of feeling which I may perhaps best describe as the Micawber condition. If only gold would turn up! Gold might turn up any day! But as gold did not turn up, — then would not Providence be so good as to allow something else to turn up!1873, Anthony Trollope, chapter XVI, in Australia and New Zealand, volume 2, B. Tauchnitz
Verb capitalized: Micawber
Micawber (third-person singular simple present Micawbers, present participle Micawbering, simple past and past participle Micawbered)
- To be optimistic that "something will turn up", in the style of Wilkins Micawber.
- To hope that the Administration and Congress will become Anti-National Bank, and thereby expect something, is Micawbering in dread earnest.1865, “Suggestions to Bank Officers”, in Proceedings of the National Bank Convention, Held in New York City, Wednesday, October 19, 1864, Journal Book and Job Office, page 45
- ... not growing a single spiritual inch, for putting forth his powers as a man should; just amiably Micawbering along, and most Micawberly devoted to somebody he would like well enough to marry when the times comes and things "turn up;" ....1872, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, Sights and Insights: Patience Strong's Story of Over the Way, volume 1, J.R. Osgood & Company, published 1876, page 151
Forms of micawber
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | micawbers |
| plural | Micawbers |
| alternative form | Mr. Micawber |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | Micawbers |
| present participle | Micawbering |
| past participle | Micawbered |
| past | Micawbered |
Origin of micawber
A name likely coined by Charles Dickens, evidently reminiscent of common Irish, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic surnames starting with Mc-, Mac-, both from Old Irish macc (“son, child”) (see more there). For the second particle, compare names like Aubrey; similar surnames like M(a)cAubrey are attested around Dickens' time and thus Micawber may represent a dialectal variation.
Words formed from micawber
- Micawber effect
- Micawberesque
- Micawber frontier
- Micawberian
- Micawberish
- Micawberism
- Micawber-like
- Micawberly
- Micawber principle
- Micawber threshold
Phrases with micawber
Questions about micawber
- What does micawber mean?
- Micawber means a person who is poor but eternally optimistic, believing that "something will turn up", like the fictional character Wilkins Micawber in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.
- What is micawber the alternative letter-case form of?
- Micawber is the alternative letter-case form of Micawber.
- What part of speech is micawber?
- Micawber can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce micawber?
- Micawber is pronounced /mɪˈkɒbər/ (US).
- What is the plural of micawber?
- The plural of micawber is micawbers.
Words near micawber in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: micawber (page history and authors); Micawber (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Micawber.wav.
Cite this entry: “micawber.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/micawber. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.