† pumpetn.

Etymology: Apparently < French pompette ink-ball (in pompette d'imprimeur : 1611 in Cotrgave (see quot. 1611); implied earlier in a punning allusion in Rabelais (1542 as pompete ; compare quot. 1653); rare, probably obsolete), apparently a spec. sense of pompette raised (typically spherical) ornament in dress, such as a tuft, puff, or knot of ribbons, pad in a pourpoint (1572 in Middle French), wart, pimple, especially on the nose (in nez à pompettes drunkard's nose: 1542; now only regional (northern) as noun in both senses; compare French pompette (adjective) drunk, tipsy (1808)); further origin uncertain, perhaps ultimately imitative; compare pompon pompom n.¹ Compare post-classical Latin pompeta ornament of clothing (1485 in a French source). Compare pumping ball n.