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Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

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First published 1974 (SND Vol. IX). Includes material from the 2005 supplement.
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

TUMFIE, n., adj. Also tumphie, -y; tumpie, and reduced forms tumf, tumph, tump. [′tʌmf(i)]

I. n. A dull, stupid, lumpish person, a dolt sometimes applied to a spoiled child, a “softy” (wm.Sc. 1808 Jam., 1868 Laird of Logan App. 521, tumph(ie); Per. 1905 E.D.D.; em.Sc.(a), Edb., wm.Sc., Dmf., Slk. 1973). Comb. tumfie-headed, thick-headed, stupid (Abd.¹⁵ 1940).Slg. 1788 R. Galloway Poems 95:
Beware of yonder corner-house, Some ca' it tumpie's fauld.Rnf. a.1794 A. Wilson Poems (1876) II. 331:
An' how at last the puir unfort'nate tumphy, Wi' a lead bullet, murdered his ain grumphy.Ayr. 1822 Galt Entail lxxiv.:
That unreverent and misleart tumphy your wife.Lnk. a.1832 W. Watt Poems (1860) 239:
Auld Maggie, like an ethercap, Ca's Ann a silly tumphy.Abd. 1900 Weekly Free Press (19 May):
She'd liked t' sent the muckle tumphy aboot her bis'ness.e.Lth. 1949 Scots Mag. (March) 407:
They carried tumps of farm servants.Gsw. 1950 H. W. Pryde McFlannel Family Affairs 101:
‘Shout for Mother,' ordered Peter, and the suggestion called forth the remark from Ivy in the hedge: ‘Huh — Mammy's tumphy!'Gsw. 1972 Molly Weir Best Foot Forward (1974) 58:
Apart from those of us who threw ourselves energetically into the games, there were the handful whom I secretly despised, and called under my breath 'tumphies'. Their mothers were ranged outside the school gates, and they fed and nourished the 'tumphies' through the bars as though they were animals in a zoo. wm.Sc. 1980 Anna Blair The Rowan on the Ridge 31:
He stood over the girning boy.
"John!" he exploded. "Get up oot o' there. You're nothing but a great tumphie, I'll gie you jist time to get up, put on your breeks and be ready to come wi' me for a day's work at the mill. ... "

II. adj. Stupid, awkward (wm.Sc. 1825 Jam.). Deriv. tumphatical, nonsensical, stupid.Sc. c.1850 A Few Rare Proverbs:
Ye nonsensical, tumphatical, rapsodical fool, if ye will swear, swear grammatically.