Gombeen or gombeen-man is an Irish-English word usually defined as a moneylender or a shopkeeper who practises usury.
In practice it describes someone who is a law onto themselves often involved in shady or questionable practices. They are a class of people but not landowners.
A typical example of its usage:
Mr Reynolds had objected to a 1994 Sunday Times article - headlined "Goodbye gombeen man. Why a fib too far proved fatal" - that focused on the events leading up to his resignation as Taoiseach, claiming he had misled the Irish parliament.
|