English

Alternative forms

• dimber-damber
• Dimber Damber
• Dimber-Damber

Noun

dimber damber ‎(plural dimber dambers)

1. (archaic, Britain, cant) The leader of a group of thieves or vagrants.
   • 1812, Goadby, Robert, The Surprising Adventures of Bampfylde Moore Carew, original published 1745, new edition, W. Salter Tiverton, page 280:

     First, a new name is given him, by which he is ever after to be called; then, standing up in the middle of the assembly, and directing his face to the dimber damber, or principal man of the gang, he repeats the following oath, which is dictated to him by some experienced member of the fraternity.

   • 1837, William Harrison Ainsworth, Rookwood, page 208:

     Dick Turpin must be one of us. He shall be our dimber damber.

   • 1992, Suzannah Davis, Dance of Deception, ISBN 0380761289, page 140:

     Smasher has the ear of every dimber damber in the city.

Synonyms

• See Wikisaurus:criminal leader

Derived terms

• dimber damber upright man

References

• Barrère, Albert; Leland, Charles Godfrey (1889) A Dictionary of Slang, Jargon & Cant, volume 1, page 310
• Farmer, John Stephen (1891) Slang and Its Analogues, volume 2, page 287