Meanings
plural GUBUs
- IrelandgovernmentA political scandal.
The GUBU had been a GUBU alright, no doubt about that, but Mr Haughey was there and the GUBU was taken care of […]
2013, John Horgan, Great Irish Reportage, Penguin UK, →ISBN2 more examples
The problem for the taoiseach is that he is increasingly being called on to defend his administration as the GUBUs loom before it.
1989, FortnightIn one handwritten memo, the writer refers to the Garda report in a scathing and sarcastic manner and calls it 'a hysterical attempt to cover up a GUBU'.
2006, Gerry O'Carroll, The Sheriff: A Detective's Story, Mainstream Publishing Company
Origin
An acronym for grotesque, unprecedented, bizarre, unbelievable, all words used by Taoiseach Charles Haughey to describe the discovery of a murderer as a guest in the house of Patrick Connolly, Attorney General of Ireland in 1982.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
GUBU. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GUBU
“GUBU.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GUBU. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “GUBU,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/GUBU.
Source: GUBU on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.