Micawber
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 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.
"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."
- 2 Alternative letter-case form of Micawber; a person of modest income or background who remains optimistic that their situation will improve. alt-of
"My grandfather was something of a micawber, never letting setbacks or misfortune drag down his cheery disposition."
- 1 To be optimistic that "something will turn up", in the style of Wilkins Micawber.
"To hope that the Administration and Congress will become Anti-National Bank, and thereby expect something, is Micawbering in dread earnest."
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"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."
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.
Related phrases
More for "micawber"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.