Micawber

English

As illustrated in a 1912 edition of the book

Alternative forms

Mr. Micawber

Etymology

A name likely coined by Charles Dickens, evidently reminiscent of common Irish, Scots, and Scottish Gaelic surnames starting with Mc-, Mac-, both from Old Irish macc (“son, child”) (see more there). For the second particle, compare names like Aubrey; similar surnames like M(a)cAubrey are attested around Dickens' time and thus Micawber may represent a dialectal variation.

Pronunciation

(US) IPA^(key): /mɪˈkɒbər/

Noun

Micawber (plural Micawbers)

A person who is poor but eternally optimistic, believing that "something will turn up", like the fictional character Wilkins Micawber in the 1850 Charles Dickens novel David Copperfield.
- 1862, Algernon Charles Swinburne, The Yale Edition of the Swinburne Letters, 1854-1869, Volume 1, Yale, published 1959, page 65:
  As it is I see Destitution and Despair ahead of me, and have begun an epitaph in the Micawber style for my future grave in the precincts of my native County's jail.
- 1873, Anthony Trollope, chapter XVI, in Australia and New Zealand, volume 2, B. Tauchnitz:
  ... a state of feeling which I may perhaps best describe as the Micawber condition. If only gold would turn up! Gold might turn up any day! But as gold did not turn up, — then would not Providence be so good as to allow something else to turn up!
- 1887, William Tufts Brigham, chapter II, in Guatemala: the Land of the Quetzal: A Sketch, Scribner, page 30:
  Micawbers far from home, they waited for something to turn up.
- 1901, Walter Sichel, chapter X, in Bolingbroke and His Times, volume 1, London: Nisbet, page 419:
  Austria was the Micawber of Europe. After all something might turn up.
- 1928 August, Herman Klein, “The Operatic Situation”, in Gramophone:
  We are constantly being assured, not by one Mr. Micawber, but by three or four Mr. Micawbers, that something is on the point of "turning up." Yet nothing ever does turn up.
- 1939, William Faulkner, The Wild Palms [If I Forget Thee, Jerusalem]‎^[1], Random House:
  His reason was no longer concern that the news might destroy her accord with what she was concentrating on, since that was no longer valid now, if it had ever been, and it was no longer the possibility that he might find something else before she would need to know, for that was not valid either now, since he had tried that and failed, nor was it the Micawber-like faith of the inert in tomorrow; it was partly perhaps the knowledge that late enough would be soon enough, but mostly (he did not try to fool himself) it was a profound faith in her.
- 1962 December, “Dr. Beeching previews the plan for British Railways”, in Modern Railways, page 376:
  Only a year ago it would have needed a "super-Micawber" to be optimistic that the railways would once again pay their way. But it was no longer a pipe dream that B.R. could make a profit, the way to do it was now clear.
- 2011, Edward Pearce, The Great Man: Sir Robert Walpole: Scoundrel, Genius and Britain's First Prime Minister‎^[2], Random House:
  The Micawber rules of debt as ruin oppressed ministers as much as individuals.

Verb

Micawber (third-person singular simple present Micawbers, present participle Micawbering, simple past and past participle Micawbered)

To be optimistic that "something will turn up", in the style of Wilkins Micawber.
- 1865, “Suggestions to Bank Officers”, in Proceedings of the National Bank Convention, Held in New York City, Wednesday, October 19, 1864, Journal Book and Job Office, page 45:
  To hope that the Administration and Congress will become Anti-National Bank, and thereby expect something, is Micawbering in dread earnest.
- 1872, Adeline Dutton Train Whitney, Sights and Insights: Patience Strong's Story of Over the Way, volume 1, J.R. Osgood & Company, published 1876, page 151:
  ... not growing a single spiritual inch, for putting forth his powers as a man should; just amiably Micawbering along, and most Micawberly devoted to somebody he would like well enough to marry when the times comes and things "turn up;" ....
- 1895, Marwell Hall, “E. J. Ratcliffe”, in Gallery of Players from The Illustrated American, volume 1, number 5, Lorrilard Spencer, page 34:
  He found his native land overcrowded with young men of education and refinement, in the same predicament as himself—waiting for something to turn up; and while he was thus “Micawbering,” he met Miss Mary Anderson at the Farm street church, and from her obtained an engagement to take a singing part in “Ingomar.”
- 1973, R. Rao, Opinion‎^[3], volume 114:
  No Indian, unless he has micawbered himself into self-complacency, would think 1973 a happy year, let alone a year of achievement.

Derived terms