| E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898. |
| | | Gamp (Mrs.), | | |
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or Sarah Gamp (g hard). A monthly nurse, famous for her bulky umbrella and perpetual reference to Mrs. Harris, a purely imaginary person, whose opinions always confirmed her own. (Dickens: Martin Chuzzlewit.) | 1 |
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“Mrs. Harris, I says to her, if I could afford to lay out all my fellow creeturs for nothink, I would gladly do it. Such is the love I bear ’em.” |
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Punch caricatures the Standard as “Mrs. Sarah Gamp,” a little woman with an enormous bonnet and her characteristic umbrella. | 2 |
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A Sarah Gamp, or Mrs. Gamp. A big, pawky umbrella, so called from Sarah Gamp. (See above.) | 3 |
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In France it is called un Robinson, from Robinson Crusoe’s umbrella. (Defoe.) | 4 |
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