numbles

English

Alternative forms

• nombles

Etymology

From Middle French nombles (“loin of meat”), alteration (with dissimilation) of Old French and Anglo-Norman lumbles (“loins”), from Latin lumbulus, diminutive of lumbus (“loin”).

Noun

numbles (plural only)

1. (archaic) The entrails of a deer or other animal, used for food.
   • 1940, TH White, The Ill-Made Knight:

     In the kitchens the famous cooks were preparing menus which included, for one course alone: ballock broth, caudle ferry, lampreys en gelatine, oysters in civey, eels in sorré, baked trout, brawn in mustard, numbles of a hart, pigs farsed [...].

Derived terms

• umbles