dumbledore, dumble-dore local.
(ˈdʌmb(ə)ldɔə(r))
[f. dumble- + dor n.1: see also drumble-dore.]
A humble-bee or bumble-bee; also dial. a cockchafer.
| 1787 Grose Prov. Gl., Dumble-dore, an humble, or bumble-bee. 1799 Southey in Robberds Mem. W. Taylor I. 264 Is it not the humble-bee, or what we call the ‘dumble dore’,—a word whose descriptive droning deserves a place in song? 1837 ― Doctor IV. Interch. xvi. 383 Of Bees, however, let me be likened to a Dumbledore, which Dr. Southey says is the most goodnatured of God's Insects. 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain i. xxvi. (1879) 276 Buzzed and hummed over by busy, blacktailed yellow-banded dumbledores. 1863 G. Kearley Links in Chain iii. 57 In Hampshire these insects [humble bees] are Dumbledors, in other districts Bumble bees, and hummel bees. 1880 Cornwall Gloss., Dumbledory, cockchafer. |