Jellyby
noun
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A philanthropist who cares only for people in distant regions, or people away from their own household.
"My mother, devoted to music, was a Jellyby. Strictly brought up, straight backed, never careless of her person, but still as to her children, a Jellyby."
Example
More examples"My mother, devoted to music, was a Jellyby. Strictly brought up, straight backed, never careless of her person, but still as to her children, a Jellyby."
Etymology
After the character of Mrs Jellyby in Charles Dickens' novel Bleak House (1852), who busies herself with charity work for Africa while her own household goes to ruin.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.