nounplural noun Humpty Dumpties
informal1A short fat person.
- ‘He is an extraordinary humpty-dumpty figure with an enormous head and stomach set upon tiny legs, supported by a shepherd's crook.’
2A person or thing that once overthrown cannot be restored.
- ‘regimes toppled like so many humpty-dumpties’
Origin
Late 18th century from the egg-shaped nursery rhyme character who fell off a wall, broke, and could not be put together again.
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