galumph

English

Etymology

Back-formation from galumphing in Lewis Carroll's “Jabberwocky”.

Pronunciation

• enPR: gəlŭmf' IPA^(key): /ɡəˈlʌmf/

Verb

galumph (third-person singular simple present galumphs, present participle galumphing, simple past and past participle galumphed)

1. (intransitive) To move heavily and clumsily, or with a sense of prancing and triumph.
   • 1990, John von Rhein, The Chicago Tribune, "Wild Things Perfect Fare for Holidays", December 19, 1990

     The Wild Things are a triumph of stagecraft, and they galumph away with the show.

   • 2008, Denise Hamilton, The Last Embrace, Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 137:

     Lily's heart galumphed. This wasn't the same temp she'd bribed away yesterday. Something had gone haywire. She braced herself. Myra looked at the woman, then at Lily, who was suddenly busy with her stenography.

   • 2013, William Conway, Act III in Patagonia: People and Wildlife, Island Press, →ISBN, page 186:

     The big fellow finally took a long look at the thing under his chin, and the current disturbance, and galumphed away, but Claudio was still dancing from boulder to boulder, trying to keep away from the teeth of the lunging females.

   • 2024 April 5, Alexis Petridis, “Abba, cabaret and smug marionettes: the 1974 Eurovision song contest reviewed!”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     In 2024, we might occasionally raise an eyebrow at Eurovision’s galumphing attempts to keep pace with pop culture – a bit of awkward rapping here, a clumsily deployed trap beat there, […]

2. (intransitive) (of a seal) To move across land by undulating the body.

Translations

(of a seal) to move across land by undulating the body

German: robben (de)