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gimcrack - 4 dictionary results
gim⋅crack
[jim-krak] 
–noun
| 1. | a showy, useless trifle; gewgaw. |
–adjective
| 2. | showy but useless. |
Origin:
1325–75 for earlier sense; ME gib(e)crake; cf. ME gibben to waver (< OF giber to shake)
1325–75 for earlier sense; ME gib(e)crake; cf. ME gibben to waver (< OF giber to shake)
Synonyms:
1. bauble, knickknack, trinket, ornament.
1. bauble, knickknack, trinket, ornament.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To gimcrack
| gim·crack (jĭm'krāk') n. A cheap and showy object of little or no use; a gewgaw. adj. Cheap and tasteless; gaudy: "The shelves groan with an array of gimcrack gifts from fans: a stuffed piranha fish ... a ceramic ... bull, a papier-mâché replica of an Apollo moonwalker" (Harry F. Waters). [Possibly alteration of Middle English gibecrake, small ornament.] gim'crack'er·y n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Gimcrack
Gim"crack`\, n. [OE., a spruce and pert pretender, also, a spruce girl, prob. fr. gim + crack lad, boaster.] A trivial mechanism; a device; a toy; a pretty thing. --Arbuthnot.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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gimcrack
1618, "showy person," sense of "trifle" first recorded 1839, of uncertain origin, perhaps alteration of gibecrake "a kind of ornament" (1360), perhaps from O.Fr. giber "to rattle, shake" + M.E. crak "sharp noise, crack." In 18c.-19c. it also meant "a person who has a turn for mechanical contrivances."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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