adj. (colloquial).—Arrogant; self-sufficient; on good terms with oneself. [MURRAY: a formation from BUMP on the model of ‘fractious.’] Hence BUMPTIOUSNESS = self-assertiveness; arrogance; self-conceit.
1803. BURNEY, Diary and Letters, vi., 324. No, my dearest Padre, BUMPTIOUS! no, I deny the charge in toto.
1849. DICKENS, David Copperfield, vi., 53 (C.D.). I heard that Mr. Sharp’s wig didn’t fit him, and that he needn’t be so ‘bounceable’—somebody else said ‘BUMPTIOUS’—about it, because his own red hair was very plainly to be seen behind.
1853. BULWER-LYTTON, My Novel, IV, xii.
| ‘She was always … what I calls gumptious.’ | |
| ‘I never heard that word before,’ said the Parson … ‘BUMPTIOUS, indeed, though I believe it is not in the dictionary, has crept into familiar parlance, especially amongst young folks at school and college.’ | |
| ‘BUMPTIOUS is BUMPTIOUS, and gumptious is gumptious,’ said the landlord. |
1865. G. A. SALA, A Trip to Barbary, 150. Poor Albert Smith, than whom, with all his occasional BUMPTIOUSNESS, an honester and more clear-sighted hater of snobbery and shams never lived.
1883. HAWLEY SMART, Hard Lines, xiii. It was all very well … having things pretty much as he liked. So long, he was BUMPTIOUS enough.
