gombeen
Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- noun (noun) Usury, or the practice of lending money at interest, or of taking interest for money lent; specifically, and now almost exclusively, the practice of taking exorbitant or excessive interest; the taking of extortionate interest from the needy or extravagant.
- noun (noun) A fool or idiot.
Examples
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Often he has little or nothing himself, but acts after the Irish fashion as deputy gombeen man for the pleasure of the thing, and also for a commission well and duly paid.
Disturbed Ireland Being the Letters Written During the Winter of 1880-81.
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The loans which they make, at an interest of five per cent. or six per cent., are dealing a death-blow at that curse of Irish life -- the gombeen man, whose usury used to mount up to thirty per cent.
Ireland and the Home Rule Movement, by Michael F. J. McDonnell
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'There's a hole in your pocket, Capt'n; stop it up with your fist, man,' said Liza -- she was a gombeen woman, and when she got a penny in her hand it was a prisoner for life.
Note
'Gombeen' comes from the Irish Gaelic 'gamba,' smidgen, lump.
