ombrifuge

O1M3B3R1I1F4U1G2E1
UK/ˈɒm.bɹɪ.fjuːd͡ʒ/US/ˈɑm.bɹɪ.fjud͡ʒ/

noun

A refuge from rain, especially an umbrella.

First used 19th c.Scrabble 17

Meanings

nounombrifuge (plural not attested)
  1. no pluralpoeticuncommonA refuge from rain, especially an umbrella.First known use 19th c.

    The belfry proves a fortress of a sort, / Has other uses than to teach the hour, / Turns sunscreen, paravent and ombrifuge.

    1869, Robert Browning, “The Pope” (chapter X), in The Ring and the Book, volume IV, Smith, Elder & Co., page 21, line 465
    5 more examples

    And so forth; and, complete with hat and gloves, / One on and one a-dangle i, my hand, / And ombrifuge (Lord love you !), case o' rain, / I flopped forth, 'sbuddikins! on my own ten toes, […]

    1872, Charles Stuart Calverley, “The Cock and the Bull”, in Fly Leaves, 3rd edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, page 115

    And truly a very remarkable year was that, well-nigh two centuries ago, when the first Ombrifuge, or Umbrella, was unfurled in London Streets.

    1897 September 29, “Hats And Hat-Worship”, in Macmillan's Magazine, volume LXXVI, number 455, page 344, column 2

    The “ombrifuge” (I quote the undergraduate again) was a showy but not robust specimen of its kind, and owing to the immense weight of the water, and the impossibility of getting a good purchase, I made a mess of it.

    1898 September 10, Bradnock Hall, “A New Net”, in Country Life, volume IV, number 88, page 300, column 1

    To some their silken hats are dear, to some / Their overcoats of astrakhan or fur, / To me my ombrifuge, my childhood's chum. / He said, " I will inquire about it, Sir."

    1911 March 8, E. G. V. Knox [i.e., E. V. Knox], “Not Cricket: The Scandalous Affair of My Umbrella”, in Punch, or The London Charivari, volume CXL, page 170, column 1

    Laet—Would you have her wear Shoes & Stockings in this Heat? Or be seated like an Infanta beneath a silk Ombrifuge, canopied from the glorious Light?

    2002 [2001], John Fuller, chapter 3, in The Memoirs of Laetitia Horsepole, by Herself, Great Britain: Vintage, page 89

Origin

Possibly a blend of ombro- + refuge or directly from ombro- + -i- + -fuge. Known to be first used by Robert Browning in 1869.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ombrifuge. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ombrifuge

MLA

“ombrifuge.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ombrifuge. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ombrifuge,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ombrifuge.

Source: ombrifuge on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.