subs. (common).—1. A monthly nurse; a FINGERSMITH (q.v.). [After Mrs. Sarah Gamp, a character in Martin Chuzzlewit (1843).] Also applied to a fussy and gossiping busybody.
1864. Sun, 28 Dec. A regular GAMP … a fat old dowdy of a monthly nurse.
1868. BREWER, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (quoted from Daily Telegraph). Mr. Gathorne Hardy is to look after the GAMPS and Harrises of the Strand.
2. (common).—An umbrella; specifically, one large and loosely-tied; a LETTUCE (q.v.). [The original Sarah always carried one of this said pattern.] Sometimes a SARAH GAMP. For synonyms, see RAIN-NAPPER.
1870. London Figaro, 15 June. Though—shattered, baggy, shivered GAMP!
1883. G. R. SIMS, Life Boat. He donned his goloshes and shouldered his GAMP.
1890. Daily Chronicle, 5 March. Sainte-Beuve insisted that though he was prepared to stand fire he was under no obligation to catch cold, and with his GAMP over his head he exchanged four shots with his adversary.
1892. Ally Sloper’s Half Holiday, 2 April, p. 106, c. 3.
| I never had a brand new tile, a glossy silk or swagger brown, | |
| But I left home without a GAMP, | |
| And rain or hail or snow came down. |
3. (journalists’).—The Standard.
Adj. (common).—Bulging. Also GAMPISH.
1864. Derby Day, p. 18. I wasn’t joking, there is an air of long-suffering about you, as if you had been mortifying the flesh by carrying a GAMPISH UMBRELLA up Piccadilly, and back again.
1881. Macmillan’s Magazine, Nov., p. 62. Grasping his GAMP umbrella at the middle.
