bloomer

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbluː.mə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England)

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• Rhymes: -uːmə(ɹ)

From Middle English blomer, from blome (“iron ingot”) (modern English bloom), from Old English blōma.

bloomer (plural bloomers)

1. An ironworker.

• Blumer, Bloomer

bloom +‎ -er.

bloomer (plural bloomers)

1. (informal, originally Australia) A large or embarrassing mistake; blunder.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:error

   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎:

     What's more, I claim that Elmer's biggest mistake wasn't the one he made at Cedarville before six thousand witnesses. His prize bloomer was pulled in Hoboken before three witnesses

   • 1919, P. G. Wodehouse, A Damsel in Distress:

     "You know," pursued Reggie seriously, "I think you are making the bloomer of a lifetime over this hat-swatting chappie. You've misjudged him. He's a first-rate sort. […]

   • 1959, Charles Percy Snow, The Two Cultures‎:

     In 1933, four years before his death, Rutherford said, firmly and explicitly, that he didn't believe the energy of the nucleus would ever be released—nine years later, at Chicago, the first pile began to run. That was the only major bloomer in scientific judgment Rutherford ever made.

   • 2000 March 12, Stuart Barnes, “Swindon stunner for Curbishley”, in The Guardian‎, →ISSN:

     After 12 successive league wins […] Charlton were nobbled by the First Division's no-hopers, who profited from a goalkeeping bloomer then held on to their lead for dear life.

2. A circular loaf of white bread.
3. A blooming flower.
4. (figurative) One who blooms, matures, or develops.

   She was a late bloomer.

• late bloomer

• Jonathon Green (2023), “bloomer n.²”, in Green's Dictionary of Slang

Named after American women's-rights activist Amelia Bloomer (1818–1894), who sought to introduce this style of dress.

bloomer (plural bloomers)

1. (historical) A reform costume for women, consisting of a short dress with loose trousers gathered around the ankles, and often a broad-brimmed hat.
   • 1884 November 11, Oscar Wilde, “More Radical Ideas Upon Dress Reform”, in Pall Mall Gazette‎:

     Few garments are so absolutely unbecoming as a belted tunic that reaches to the knees, a fact which I wish some of our Rosalinds would consider when they don doublet and hose; indeed, to the disregard of this artistic principle is due the ugliness, the want of proportion, in the Bloomer costume, a costume which in other respects is sensible.

   • 1912 October, Jack London, “The Taste of the Meat”, in Smoke Bellew, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co, →OCLC:

     Unlike other women landing from the steamers, she was neither short-skirted nor bloomer-clad. She was dressed as any woman travelling anywhere would be dressed.

2. (historical, by extension) A woman who wears a Bloomer costume.

• Bloomer

• bloomers

• Bloomerism

• rebloom

From English bloomers.

• IPA^(key): /blu.mœʁ/

bloomer m (plural bloomers)

1. bloomers