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goombah

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noun goom·bah \ˈgüm-ˌbä\

Definition of goombah

  1. 1 :  a close friend or associate —used especially among Italian-American men

  2. 2 :  a member of a secret chiefly Italian-American crime organization :  mafioso; broadly :  gangster

  3. 3 :  a macho Italian-American man

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Origin and Etymology of goombah

Italian dialect (Campania) cumbà, vocative form of cumbare respected older man, literally, godfather, from Medieval Latin compater — more at compeer

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