1820 Scott Let. 30 Nov. in Lockhart (1845) 442/1The Rumti-iddity chorus in Tom Thumb.
1834 Tait's Mag. I. 738/1Luckily, Old Sparks hadn't christened him with any of his ridiculous rumfoozles, or rumptyiddities.
1848 Dickens Dombey ii,The..unmeaning and unfeeling remark of rump-te-iddity, bow-wow-wow.
1817 Keats Let. 15 Apr. (1958) I. 129,I hope one of you will be competent to take part in a Trio..when you have said Rum-ti-ti you must not rum any more.
1834 M. Scott Cruise Midge xviii,The tabor was fiercely beaten, rumpti, tumpti.
1897 Star 20 Apr. 3/4 The music..is of the commonplace rum-ti-tum order.
1898 G. B. Shaw Perfect Wagnerite 109A little rum-ti-tum triplet.
1901 Pall Mall Mag. Feb. 265If you were to put in a little less rumty-tumty language, I'm not sure that I shouldn't agree with you.
1912 World 7 May 690/2 Mr. Cyril Maude makes a rather rumtifootling bishop amusing and forgivable even in his most flagrant lapses from clerical circumspection.
1974 Listener 31 Jan. 131/1 Try translating Goethe's Faust with the same metre..it's apt to sound fatally rum-ti-tum.
1976 G. Ewart No Fool i. 31This is a convention, we know, of course, and a wistfulness in the rum-ti-tum might be detected.
1906 Galsworthy Man of Property i. i. 22Did you ever see such a collection of rumty-too people?
1920 ― In Chancery i. i. 9He was feeling more strongly than ever that Timothy's was hopelessly ‘rum-ti-too’, and the souls of his aunts dismally mid-Victorian.
ORIGIN: Arbitrary.