"nimrod" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Nimrod"
      },
      "expansion": "Nimrod",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "In most English-speaking countries, Nimrod is used to denote a hunter or warrior, because the biblical Nimrod is described as \"a mighty hunter\". In American English, however, the term has acquired a derogatory meaning of \"idiot\"; there are various hypotheses as to why. Most examples suggest an intermediate form where Nimrod is used deliberately to mock a hunter. Whether this usage was widespread, or how it influenced the final meaning where the hunter connotation is unintended, might be beyond reach.\nPossible reasons for the shift from \"hunter\" to \"idiot\":\nOne suggestion is that Bugs Bunny's references to Elmer Fudd as a \"poor little Nimrod\", while most likely using the term's \"hunter\" sense, contributed to the development of a sense \"one who is easily confounded\".\nAn alternative explanation of this sense is that it derives from the John Steinbeck memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America, in which Steinbeck used the term sarcastically while describing an inquest that was held after a hunter accidentally shot his partner: \"The coroner questioning this nimrod...\"\nThe Oxford English Dictionary, in turn, cites a 1933 writing as the first usage of nimrod to refer to a fool, predating Bugs Bunny by at least five years and Steinbeck by nearly thirty: in Hecht and Fowler's Great Magoo, someone remarks \"He's in love with her. That makes about the tenth. The same old Nimrod. Won't let her alone for a second.\" However, this could still have been used in the sense of a hunter (i.e. someone pursuing a love interest).\nThe Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests that because the legendary Nimrod was associated with the Tower of Babel, a disastrous idea, nimrod acquired the meaning of \"a stupid person.\"\nAnother possible source of the sense is the play \"The Lion of the West\" by James Paulding. First performed in 1831, it features a comedic characterization of Davy Crockett named Col. Nimrod Wildfire who attempts to woo a young French woman.\nAnother possibility is that there was an unattested dialectal or slang term for an idiot similar to Australian English ning nong, and that it became conflated with the more respectable term, perhaps as a euphemism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nimrods",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nimrod (plural nimrods)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with language name categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with topic categories using raw markup",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "People",
          "orig": "en:People",
          "parents": [
            "Human",
            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't stick your fingers in the fan, you nimrod!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A foolish person; an idiot."
      ],
      "id": "en-nimrod-en-noun-Ov744W2N",
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "foolish",
          "foolish"
        ],
        [
          "idiot",
          "idiot"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, derogatory) A foolish person; an idiot."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
          "word": "doofus"
        },
        {
          "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
          "word": "fathead"
        },
        {
          "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
          "word": "lamebrain"
        },
        {
          "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
          "word": "numbskull"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "nimrod"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "Nimrod"
      },
      "expansion": "Nimrod",
      "name": "m"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "In most English-speaking countries, Nimrod is used to denote a hunter or warrior, because the biblical Nimrod is described as \"a mighty hunter\". In American English, however, the term has acquired a derogatory meaning of \"idiot\"; there are various hypotheses as to why. Most examples suggest an intermediate form where Nimrod is used deliberately to mock a hunter. Whether this usage was widespread, or how it influenced the final meaning where the hunter connotation is unintended, might be beyond reach.\nPossible reasons for the shift from \"hunter\" to \"idiot\":\nOne suggestion is that Bugs Bunny's references to Elmer Fudd as a \"poor little Nimrod\", while most likely using the term's \"hunter\" sense, contributed to the development of a sense \"one who is easily confounded\".\nAn alternative explanation of this sense is that it derives from the John Steinbeck memoir Travels with Charley: In Search of America, in which Steinbeck used the term sarcastically while describing an inquest that was held after a hunter accidentally shot his partner: \"The coroner questioning this nimrod...\"\nThe Oxford English Dictionary, in turn, cites a 1933 writing as the first usage of nimrod to refer to a fool, predating Bugs Bunny by at least five years and Steinbeck by nearly thirty: in Hecht and Fowler's Great Magoo, someone remarks \"He's in love with her. That makes about the tenth. The same old Nimrod. Won't let her alone for a second.\" However, this could still have been used in the sense of a hunter (i.e. someone pursuing a love interest).\nThe Merriam-Webster Dictionary suggests that because the legendary Nimrod was associated with the Tower of Babel, a disastrous idea, nimrod acquired the meaning of \"a stupid person.\"\nAnother possible source of the sense is the play \"The Lion of the West\" by James Paulding. First performed in 1831, it features a comedic characterization of Davy Crockett named Col. Nimrod Wildfire who attempts to woo a young French woman.\nAnother possibility is that there was an unattested dialectal or slang term for an idiot similar to Australian English ning nong, and that it became conflated with the more respectable term, perhaps as a euphemism.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "nimrods",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "nimrod (plural nimrods)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English countable nouns",
        "English derogatory terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
        "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
        "English eponyms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms derived from Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies",
        "en:People"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Don't stick your fingers in the fan, you nimrod!"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A foolish person; an idiot."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "derogatory",
          "derogatory"
        ],
        [
          "foolish",
          "foolish"
        ],
        [
          "idiot",
          "idiot"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(chiefly US, informal, derogatory) A foolish person; an idiot."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "derogatory",
        "informal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
      "word": "doofus"
    },
    {
      "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
      "word": "fathead"
    },
    {
      "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
      "word": "lamebrain"
    },
    {
      "sense": "pejorative term meaning idiot",
      "word": "numbskull"
    }
  ],
  "word": "nimrod"
}