Womble
/ˈwɒmb(ə)l
/British
noun
A fictional animal inhabiting Wimbledon Common in London, characterized as clearing up litter.The English National Opera has embraced a tradition stretching from Wat Tyler to the Wombles....
- Growing awareness of ecological issues in the 1990s prompted a Wombles comeback.
- These Wombles make good use of all manner of items left behind by thoughtless humans.
verb (womble) [no object, with adverbial of direction] informal
Wander in a casual or relaxed way: once we’d arrived back in Cambridge, we wombled quietly home...
- At the end of the talk, she thanks me, shakes me hand, and wombles off.
- Having seen three films on Saturday night, we then wombled off to stand on Parker's Piece and go 'oooo' a lot.
- And thus it was with heavy hearts (but light feet) that we wombled into town to spend a total of six hours indoors.
Origin
1960s: from Wombledon Common, representing a child's pronunciation of Wimbledon; the creatures first appeared in a series of children's books (1968–76) by Elisabeth Beresford (1926–2010) and were popularized by a television series (1973–5).