Etymology

Micawberly

Mi·caw·ber·ly
M3I1C3A1W4B3E1R1L1Y4

Today it means: in an upbeat and optimistic way, in the face of seemingly hopeless circumstances Full definition →

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The story

From Micawber + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns, having the sense of ‘behaving like, or having a nature typical of [what is denoted by the noun]’) (see origin of name there), from the character Wilkins Micawber – noted for his naive optimism, always confident that “something will turn up” – in David Copperfield (1849–1850) by the English author Charles Dickens (1812–1870).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.