blockhead

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a stupid or slow-witted person; an insulting term

   Only a blockhead would ignore three clear warnings.

2. 2
   noun

   a sideshow performer who drives a blunt object into the nasal cavity

   The circus blockhead demonstrated the dangerous stunt under medical supervision.

Recorded from the sixteenth century, from block + head. It compares an unintelligent person's head to a solid wooden block, extending block's older figurative sense of something inert or unresponsive.

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