Definitions

Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bunbury.

Examples

  • Danny Mwanga » amobi okugo, teal bunbury, tony tchani, zach loyd … Three nights before the MLS SuperDraft, Philadelphia Union CEO and ...

    What US wants to See ! 2010

  • Danny Mwanga » amobi okugo, teal bunbury, tony tchani, zach loyd … Three nights before the MLS SuperDraft, Philadelphia Union CEO and ...

    What US wants to See ! 2010

  • Can go to bunbury or is it albany to see dolpins and whales i think.

    www.hardwarezone.com.sg 2009

  • v = 0 rag246: This looks shooped … I can tell from the pixels and from shoopin quite a few whoops in my time. as1202: comment 307 - Larissa was fired b / c the new management short changed her in her paycheck and when she went to ... bunbury: Oh. My.

    Hoboken 411 2008

  • v = 0 rag246: This looks shooped … I can tell from the pixels and from shoopin quite a few whoops in my time. as1202: comment 307 - Larissa was fired b / c the new management short changed her in her paycheck and when she went to ... bunbury: Oh. My.

    Hoboken 411 2008

  • Does anyone ... matt_72: [quote comment = "110410″] W ait, I thought we were supposed to be outraged that city employees ... bunbury: I lived there for almost four years … … if you are happy with your unit, great.

    Hoboken 411 2008

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Pastime of Algernon Moncrieff and

    these birds.

    March 28, 2007

  • Thanks for the interesting article, trivet.

    April 15, 2007

  • Bunbury's also used in Jonathan Ames's "The Extra Man." As in "Earnest," he's a made-up guy; they use him to disguise where they've truly been, so that they'll remain mysteries to each other. "I was out with Bunbury."

    April 16, 2007

  • noun: An imaginary person whose name is used as an excuse to some purpose, especially to visit a place.

    verb intr: To use the name of a fictitious person as an excuse.

    November 20, 2007

  • JACK: This ghastly state of things is what you'd call Bunburying, I suppose.

    ALGERNON: Yes, and a perfectly wonderful Bunbury it is. The most wonderful Bunbury I have ever had in my life.

    JACK: Well, you've no right whatsoever to Bunbury here.

    ALGERNON: That is absurd. One has a right to Bunbury anywhere one chooses. Every serious Bunburyist knows that.

    JACK: Serious Bunburyist! Good heavens!

    -The Importance of Being Earnest, by Oscar Wilde

    February 19, 2008

  • Bunbury makes his first appearance:

    ALGERNON. Literary criticism is not your forte, my dear fellow. Don’t try it. You should leave that to people who haven’t been at a University. They do it so well in the daily papers. What you really are is a Bunburyist. I was quite right in saying you were a Bunburyist. You are one of the most advanced Bunburyists I know.

    JACK. What on earth do you mean?

    ALGERNON. You have invented a very useful younger brother called Ernest, in order that you may be able to come up to town as often as you like. I have invented an invaluable permanent invalid called Bunbury, in order that I may be able to go down into the country whenever I choose. Bunbury is perfectly invaluable. If it wasn’t for Bunbury’s extraordinary bad health, for instance, I wouldn’t be able to dine with you at Willis’s to-night, for I have been really engaged to Aunt Augusta for more than a week.

    Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest

    October 4, 2008

  • When my play-reading group did The Importance of Being Earnest, I was assigned the role of Algernon. In that line about literary criticism, I read forte as one syllable--assuming Algernon might know to say it that way--but at least two fellow readers tried to help me out by whispering "for-tay."

    April 3, 2011

  • *snortay*

    April 3, 2011

  • *throws a cupcake for burying*

    April 3, 2011