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Discuss Email this Feedback RSS/XML Permalink A.Word.A.Day--goombah Add A.Word.A.Day to your Web site with these RSS feeds. This week's theme: slang/informal terms. goombah (GOOM-bah) noun 1. Friend, accomplice, or crony. 2. Godfather or mentor. 3. Gangster or Mafioso. [Dialectal pronunciation of Italian compa, a clipping of compare (godfather, friend, or accomplice), from Latin compater, from com- (with) + pater (father).] -Anu Garg (garg wordsmith.org) "It was his goombahs. It's the first rule in the underworld: It is not your enemies you have to worry about, it's your friends." Boston's Mobsters a Dysfunctional Family; Boston Globe; Jan 11, 1995. X-Bonus At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone. -Jean de la Bruyere, essayist and moralist (1645-1696)

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