• bumbershoot •
Printable Version Pronunciation: bêm-bêr-shut • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: An umbrella or parasol, especially an old-fashioned one.
Notes: This word is one of the many facetious additions accepted by the US idiom of English, in a class with gobbledegook, snollygoster, and stick-to-it-iveness. Remember that it ends in -shoot even though the origin of the pronunciation is probably -chute (See Word History).
In Play: Many Americans will remember this word from the song, "Me ol' bam-boo" in the movie Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
Me ol' bam-boo, me ol' bam-boo You'd better never bother with me ol' bam-boo You can have me hat or me bum-ber-shooBut you'd better never bother with me ol' bam-boo.However, it may be used more often today in reference to the Seattle art and music festival, Bumbershoot. The festival received this name because it is an umbrella festival for all the arts in Seattle rather than as a reference to its weather.
Word History: The origin of today's word is fairly obvious though no one knows for sure who created it or when. It seems to be a compromise between the beginning of umbrella (umber) with a replication of the B, plus the end of parachute. It was first remarked in 1896 in the Random House Historical Dictionary of the American Language even though most Americans associate it with the British upper class. In fact, it is generally unknown in the UK. It sounds very much like a child's mispronunciation of umbrella similar to calling one an underbrella, as my son did some years ago.
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