dunderhead

English

Etymology

dunder +‎ head.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌn.də.hɛd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈdʌn.dɚ.hɛd/

Noun

dunderhead (plural dunderheads)

1. (somewhat dated) A stupid person; a dunce.
   • 1883, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], “A Cub-pilot's Experience”, in Life on the Mississippi, Boston, Mass.: James R[ipley] Osgood and Company, →OCLC:

     You're the stupidest dunderhead I ever saw or ever heard of, so help me Moses!

   • 1915, Basil King, chapter 3, in The Side Of The Angels:

     Poor old fellow's a dunderhead. That's where it is in a nutshell. Never could make a living. […] Nice old chap as ever lived. Only impractical, dreamy. Gentle as a sheep—and no more capable of running that big, expensive plant than a motherly old ewe.

   • 2004 May 23, Maureen Dowd, “Bay of Goats”, in New York Times, retrieved 29 November 2017:

     Cheney & Company swooned over Mr. Chalabi because he was telling them what they wanted to hear. . . . A half-dozen dunderheads who thought they knew everything assumed they could control Mr. Chalabi and use him as the instrument of their utopian fantasies.

Alternative forms

• dinderhead (Southwestern England)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• dunderheaded