What does gamp mean?
"Gamp" is a chiefly British, informal word for an umbrella, typically suggesting something large, old-fashioned, or slightly shabby rather than a sleek modern brolly. The term is an eponym: it derives from Mrs Gamp, the tippling, self-serving nurse and midwife in Charles Dickens's 1843–44 novel Martin Chuzzlewit, who habitually carried an outsized umbrella. Dickens's character was so vivid that her name passed into everyday speech as a byword both for uncaring nurses and for umbrellas of the bulky sort she favored. Today "gamp" is largely historical and humorous in register — you are far more likely to meet it in older fiction, crossword puzzles, or dictionaries than in ordinary conversation, where Britons prefer "brolly" and Americans simply say "umbrella." Its enduring charm lies in its literary pedigree and its cozy, Victorian flavour.
nounAn umbrella; a somewhat old-fashioned British informal term for a large or unwieldy umbrella.
- A large, old-fashioned umbrella (British informal).
"She left her gamp on the bus and got thoroughly soaked on the walk home."
"He tucked his gamp under his arm and set off through the drizzle."
"The old gentleman's gamp dripped steadily in the corner of the pub."
Regular plural; rare outside historical or humorous contexts.
"The stand by the door was crowded with dripping gamps."
The word for your umbrella comes straight out of Charles Dickens: Mrs Gamp, the slovenly nurse in Martin Chuzzlewit, was never seen without one.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of gamp
"Gamp" is an eponym coined in the nineteenth century after Mrs (Sairey) Gamp, the disreputable nurse in Charles Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit, first published in serial form in 1843–44. The fictional Mrs Gamp carried a large cotton umbrella, and readers began using her surname to mean any umbrella of that bulky kind. The word became established in British slang during the later Victorian era and survives today mainly as a dated or literary curiosity.
How gamp is actually used
Chiefly British and now dated or humorous in tone; most modern speakers would simply say 'umbrella' or the more current 'brolly'.
Easily confused with gamp
A gimp is a flat braided cord or trim, or informally a limp, whereas a gamp is an umbrella — the words merely look and sound similar.