jobbernowl

Definition

1. Noun (informal):
   • A foolish or stupid person; a blockhead. This term is archaic and used humorously or contemptuously.

Usage Examples

• (He is so foolish that he cannot remember a basic fact.)
• (Do not act stupidly; consider your words first.)
• (The old man insulted the apprentice's intelligence for a careless mistake.)

Advanced Usage

• "to act like a jobbernowl": to behave in a foolish or senseless manner.

  • She acted like a total jobbernowl at the meeting, asking irrelevant questions. (She behaved stupidly and without thought.)

• "a mere jobbernowl": used to emphasize someone's lack of intelligence or common sense.

  • He is a mere jobbernowl when it comes to financial matters. (He is completely foolish about money.)

Variants and Related Words

• Jobbernowl is a compound word from "jobber" (possibly from "job" meaning a piece of work, or from obsolete "jobber" meaning a fool) and "nowl" (a variant of "noll," meaning head). It has no common modern variants.
• Jobbernowlery (noun, rare): foolishness or stupidity.
  • His jobbernowlery was evident when he tried to fix the engine with a hammer. (His foolishness was obvious.)

Synonyms

• Blockhead: a stupid person.
• Dunce: a person who is slow to learn.
• Nincompoop: a foolish or silly person.
• Simpleton: a person lacking intelligence or common sense.

Phrasal Verbs

None. "Jobbernowl" is not used in phrasal verbs.

Related Idioms

• "A jobbernowl of the first order": a very foolish person.
  • He's a jobbernowl of the first order for believing that fake news. (He is extremely foolish for being gullible.)