bombilious

A word that, as far as I know, is a hapax legomenon, that is it only occurs in one place, viz a hitherto unknown limerick by Edward Lear:

There was an old person of Dean,
Who dined on one pea and one bean,
For he said, "More than that,
Would make me too fat." --
That bombilious old person of Dean.

It was written in September 1862 on headed notepaper belonging to a member of the Baring banking family. In February 1994 an archivist working at the Hampshire Record Office in Winchester noticed it. Although unsigned, there is no mistaking the penmanship, and the accompanying cartoon illustration helped clinch the identification.

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Credit to achuka.com for providing the story of this newly-discovered limerick. When this was first discovered I read several slightly different variants in the newspapers, but mine is corrected from their pictures of the manuscript, which is quite clear.

Much later. Then there's always bombylious.

But what, you ask, does it mean? Well, I don't know what Ed thought he was saying, but here's my guess.

Webster 1966 includes bombilation -- a buzzing, droning sound. Bombilious would refer to one who is prone to bombilation. And deans do traditionally engage in bombilation.

If you have any other theories, by all means, advance them.