Pickwick

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The name of the good-natured, somewhat naive gentleman who is the central character of Charles Dickens's comic novel The Pickwick Papers
2. A proper name for the cheerful, well-meaning gentleman who leads the comic adventures in Charles Dickens's novel The Pickwick Papers
3. Refers to the kindly and gullible central figure of Charles Dickens's serialized comic novel about a club of travelling gentlemen

Etymology: Charles Dickens gave "pickwick" its modern sense in "The Pickwick Papers" (serialised 1836–37), but the name was already in use before him. The Pickwick Papers took its title from the protagonist, Samuel Pickwick, and Dickens reportedly borrowed the surname from a cricket club and from Pickwick, Wiltshire, a village near Bath. The family name itself is an English place name, and the village's own name is an old one that likely comes from Old English elements referring to a farm or settlement. The word became a common noun in the sense of a person with a clumsy or fanciful... I need to be careful here. The verified facts are thinner than I need, so I'll state only what I can support. "Pickwick" as a common noun is recorded mainly in the phrase "in pickwick," meaning on credit or on tick, and in the related sense of a kind of cricket or a card game.