bumbledom

/ ˈbʌmbəldəm /

noun

1. self-importance in a minor office

Word History and Origins

Origin of bumbledom¹

C19: after Bumble , name of the beadle in Dickens' Oliver Twist (1837–38)

Example Sentences

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, Pickwickian, Bumbledom, Gradgrind, Podsnappery, Pecksniffian and the Artful Dodger have also escaped from the novels in which they first appeared to designate types of humanity.

From The Guardian

Thy style shall be always in the tone of a sweet murmur or soft whisper; a lullaby of peace for drowsy-headed Bumbledom.

From Project Gutenberg

As to the general questions, I will start by avowing frankly my conviction, that, in the present state of England, every thoughtful man who loves literature should rejoice in the advent of any really able book which outrages propriety and shocks Bumbledom, should rejoice in its advent simply and exactly because it does outrage propriety and shock Bumbledom, even if this book be nauseous to his own taste and bad in his own judgment.

From Project Gutenberg

But what shall one say of that large number of educated people who are not stupid, who are familiar with continental literature; who yet, if an English book appears advocating ideas such as they have been delighted with in a French or German dress, feign astonishment and horror, and join with all the poor little curs of Bumbledom in yelping and snarling at it?

From Project Gutenberg

A large number of highly respectable elderly personages in gowns, for the most part belonging to the priesthood of our very dear National Church, and who by themselves and by good Bumbledom in general are accounted the real clerisy of England, have devoted all, or nearly all, the years of their maturity to what is termed the classical instruction of ingenuous youth.

From Project Gutenberg