clodhopper

/'klɔd,hɔpə/

Thân thiện

A farmer wears sturdy clodhoppers while working in the field.

Definition

Noun: 1. A thick and heavy shoe: A sturdy, often large and inelegant shoe, typically associated with work or outdoor use. 2. A clumsy, awkward, or unsophisticated person: A person regarded as boorish, rustic, or lacking in grace and refinement.

Usage and Examples

• Noun (Shoe):
  • He wore a pair of old clodhoppers to work in the muddy field.
  • Those aren't dancing shoes; they're great big clodhoppers!
• Noun (Person):
  • Don't be such a clodhopper; you just stepped on my foot!
  • The city folks looked down on him, thinking he was just a country clodhopper.

Advanced Usage and Nuance

• The term is often used humorously or disparagingly. When referring to a person, it carries a connotation of being uncultured or oafish.
• It can be used as a mild, teasing insult among friends ("Watch where you're going, you clodhopper!"), but can be offensive if intended to demean someone's background or manners.

Variants and Related Words

• Clod (noun): A lump of earth or clay; also used to mean a dull, stupid person. This is the root word from which "clodhopper" is derived.
• Clomp (verb): To walk heavily and noisily, as if wearing clodhoppers.

Synonyms

• For the shoe: work boot, brogan, heavy shoe, hobnail boot.
• For the person: bumpkin, oaf, lout, yokel, rustic.

Idioms and Phrases

• To have two left feet: This idiom, meaning to be clumsy or awkward at dancing, shares a similar thematic connection with the clumsiness implied by "clodhopper."

Học thuật

Noun

1. a thick and heavy shoe

Từ đồng nghĩa

• brogan
• brogue
• work shoe