lubber en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- /ˈlʌbə(ɹ)/
- (Southern-England) audio
Etymology
From Middle English, perhaps from Old French lobeor (“swindler”), from Old French lober to mock, to jeer, or of Scandinavian origin, compare dialectal Swedish lubber. The grasshopper was likely so called after sense 1 (“a clumsy or lazy person”).
Meanings
-
(archaic) A clumsy or lazy person.
[T]hree of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him [Johnson] to school. […] The purfly, sand-blind lubber and blubber, with his open mouth, and face of bruised honeycomb; yet already dominant, imperial, irresistible!
1832 May, Thomas Carlyle, “[James] Boswell’s Life of [Samuel] Johnson”, in R[alph] W[aldo] E[merson], editor, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: […], volume III, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, published 1839, →OCLC, page 147:
- An inexperienced or novice sailor; a landlubber.
- (Southern-US) An eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera).
- (South-Asia) Alteration of rubber.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| lubbers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |
Deriveds
lubber's hole · lubber line · sealubber · lubberly · lubberlike · lubberland · lubber fiend · abbey-lubber · landlubber
Synonyms
palooka · screwup · klutz · mess-up · shit bird · alcatote · lummox · trapes · schlemiel · dumbshit · chucklehead · stumblebum · butterfingers · maladroit · galoot · sad sack · clodhopper · weapon · fumblefingers · botcher · gype · fuckup · bungler · gaum · dauber · duffer · slangrill · muff · bumbler · lumpkin · messup · blunderer · gawk · lubber · peabrain · goon · looby · lomperd · spaz · turkey · auf · fumbler · schmuck · yutz · blunderhead · gobaloon · oaf · pisher