sb. and a. Also 7 brom-, brumicham, brom-, brim-, brumigham, bromedgham, brumegeum, brumisham, brim-, brumingham, 9 brummejam.
A. sb. 1. A local vulgar form of the name of the town of Birmingham, in England. Hence (contemptuously), An article of Birmingham manufacture: spec. a. A counterfeit coin; b. a spur.
c. 1691. G. Miége, New State Eng., 235. Bromicham … particularly noted, a few years ago, for the counterfeit Groats made here, and from hence dispersed all over the Kingdom.
1848. Mrs. Gaskell, M. Barton (1882), 23/2. Poor babby cried … till we got to Brummagem for the night.]
1834–43. Southey, Doctor, cxl. (D.). It proved to be a Brummejam of the coarsest and clumsiest kind, with a head on each side.
1840. E. Napier, Sc. & Sports For. Lands, I. vii. 221. I tightened the reins and applied the Brummagems.
2. Eng. Hist. = ‘Birmingham (i.e., counterfeit) Protestant’ [alluding to the counterfeit groats made at Birmingham a few years before]: A nickname given to supporters of the Exclusion Bill in 1680. See BIRMINGHAM, ANTI-BIRMINGHAM.
[1681. Luttrell, Brief Rel. (1857), I. 124. The latter party have been called by the former, whigs, fanaticks, covenanteers, bromigham protestants, &c.]
1681. (Sept. 9) Ballad, Riddle of the Round-Head. Whigs and Brumighams, with shams and stories, Are true protestants.
1681. (Dec. 15) Ballad, Ignoramus. O, how they plotted! Briminghams voted, And all the mobile the holy cause promoted.
1682. Popish Fables, a Dialogue between Fly-blow, a Tory; Swift-heel, a Tantivy; Flash, a Brumegeum; See-well, a Whig. Ibid., I am a thin brass protestant silver’d over … they call me a Brumegeum … but my Sirname is Flash.
B. attrib. or adj. 1. a. Made at Birmingham. b. With primary allusion to counterfeit groats coined there in 17th c.; but, also, with later reference to plated and lacquered wares still manufactured there: Counterfeit, sham, not genuine; of the nature of a cheap or showy imitation.
1637. Calendar Dom. St. Papers, 105. Those swords which he … pretends to be blades of his owne makeing are all bromedgham blades & forraine blades.
1688. T. Brown, I coined heroes as fast as Brumingham groats.
1827. Blackw. Mag., XXII. Oct., 410/2. Mr Brougham once spoke in Parliament of ‘Brummagem Statesmen.’
1853. Lytton, My Novel, I. 104 (Hoppe). A work-table of rosewood inlaid with brass … in that peculiar taste which is vulgarly called ‘Brumagem.’
1861. A. K. H. Boyd, Recreat. Country Parson, Ser. II. 47. The vulgar dandy, strutting along, with his Brummagem jewellery.
2. Hist. Of or pertaining to the ‘Birminghams’ of 1680: see A 2.
1681. D’Urfey, Sir Barnaby Whig, Prol. To hear harden’d Brumicham rascals prate.
1681. (Sept. 15) Ballad, Old Jemmy. No mobile gay fop, With Brimigham pretences. Ibid. (title), A proper New Brummigham Ballad.
1682. (Nov.) The Cavalier Litany, From a Brumisham Saint, and a serious Church Whig … Libera nos.
1690. B. E., Dict. Cant. Crew, Bromigham-conscience, very bad; Bromigham-protestants, Dissenters or Whiggs. (See further examples in Birmingham Weekly Post, 11 Dec., 1880.)
Hence Brummagemish a., Brummagemize v., Brummagism.
1870. Hawthorne, Eng. Note-bks. (1879), IV. 171. The country began to look Brummagemish.
1886. Sat. Rev., 13 March, 360. The reluctance of the capital to Brummagemize itself.
1858. Greener, Gunnery, 238. As to the mechanical arrangement, to use a Brummagism, they are as if they had been pitched together.
[Of Birmingham, the OE. form appears to have been *Beormingahám. The metathesis of r, giving Bre-, Bri-, Bru-, Brom-, is found as early at least as the 15th c. In No. 10 of Edgbastonia, 15th Feb., 1882, 140 variant forms and spellings are cited from documents. Among these may be found 1–2 (Domesday) Bermingeham, 3–6 Birmyngeham, 5–6 Brymyngeham, 6 Brimicham, 7 Brimingham, Brimigham, Brimmidgham, Brimisham; also 4–6 Burmyngeham, 4–7 Brum(m)ingham, Brummingsham, Brumigham, Brummidgham, Brumicham.]
