rumpty

1. A nonsense word, especially in simple or childish songs.

   I sang it through, "Rumpty tumpty toddy man," as Grandpa thumped his blackthorn stick against the floor and everyone laughed.

   2009, Patricia Reilly Giff, “chapter 6”, in Nory Ryan's Song

   1 more example

   […] he heard a distant sound, or song, behind him. "Rumpty didily dum. Rumpty dididly doo. Rumpty doo doo dumpty didily rumpty didily dum."

   2010, Dawn Dalglish, Jacob's World, page 127

comparative more rumpty · superlative most rumpty

1. New ZealandOf a quality below standard; in a state of disrepair.

   I lived in a fringe of the city, down Happy Valley Road, in a bit of a rumpty palace of a house banged together by some DIY no-hoper.

   2000, Nigel Cox, Skylark Lounge, page 12

   Synonyms: dilapidated, run down

plural Rumpties

1. historicalinformalA Farman airplane.

   In his initial assignment to Training Squadron No. 4 of the Royal Flying Corps, Field began his flying in the Maurice Farman "Shorthorn" trainer, sometimes called a Rumpty. […]

   2007, Jack S. Ballard, War Bird Ace: The Great War Exploits of Capt. Field E. Kindley, page 23

   1 more example

   To do him justice, there were a few wires which he did not loosen in climbing into the cockpit, but then the machine, a Henri Farman (or Rumpty as they were commonly known), was at all times hard to get into.

   2009, Ira Jones, King of Airfighters: The Biography of Major Mick Mannock, page 42