Etymology

gigmanity

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Today it means: Narrow concern about, and pride in, one's respectability; a petty sense of decorum. Full definition →

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The story

From gigman + -ity, coined by Thomas Carlyle, derived from a definition once given in a court of justice by a witness who, having described a person as respectable, was asked by the judge in the case what he meant by the word, and replied, "One that keeps a gig."

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.