gewgaw
Pronunciation Noun
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Pronunciation Noun
gewgaw (plural gewgaws)
- A showy trifle, a toy; a showy trinket, ornament or decoration. [from 15th c.]
- A heavy gewgaw called a crown.
- 1951, Isaac Asimov, Foundation (1974 Panther Books Ltd publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 11, page 163, ¶¶ 2–4:
- “I am not of the neighbourhood,” said Mallow, calmly, “but the matter is irrelevant. I have had the honour to send you a little gift yesterday ——” [¶] The tech-man’s nose lifted. “I received it. An interesting gewgaw. I may have use for it on occasion.” [¶] I have other and more interesting gifts. Quite out of the gewgaw stage.”
- 2011, Will Self, "The frowniest spot on Earth", London Review of Books, XXXIII.9:
- You or I may well view our desire to push buttons and order new electronic gewgaws as the mere reflex spasms of consumerism, but to this dynamic duo the future of the earth depends on our instant gratification more than anything else.
- French: bibelot
- Russian: безделу́шка
gewgaw (not comparable)
- Showy; unreal; pretentious.
- 1678, Dryden, John, All for Love, Scene II,
- The rattle of a globe to play withal,
- This gewgaw world, and put him cheaply off;
- 1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud; A Monodrama, X, stanza 1,
- Seeing his gewgaw castle shine,
- New as his title, built last year.
- 1678, Dryden, John, All for Love, Scene II,
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003