Also 8–9 bomaree, 9 bumbaree, bommeree. [Origin unknown. Cf. BUMMERY.] A middleman in the fish trade at Billingsgate.
[1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4330/7. Run away … a Negro Boy … called Hermitage or Bumaree.]
1786. Rep. Committee of City of Lond. on Price Provisions, 31. The Bomarees will buy up half the fish the Salesmen have, and sell to the Fishmongers.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Labour, I. 67. In Billingsgate the ‘forestallers’ or middlemen are known as ‘bummarees.’… The bummaree is the jobber or speculator on the fish-exchange.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock (1861), 17. Stands are erected at different parts of the market for ‘bumbarees.’
Hence Bummareeing vbl. sb. The acting as a Bummaree.
1859. Sala, Tw. round Clock, 21. The process of bumbareeing is very simple.
