egghead
[eg-hed]
- an intellectual.
Origin of egghead
Usage note
This term is usually used with disparaging intent, implying that an intellectual is out-of-touch with ordinary people. Though first used by journalists to insult editorial writers, egghead was popularized as an epithet of Adlai Stevenson, the 1952 Democratic presidential candidate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for egghead
Contemporary Examples
That's something that egghead liberals are supposed to be guilty of.
Gore was painted as an egghead, and was, but again Southern-ness diluted the cocktail a bit.
Does egghead Obama, as so many critics suspect, lack a common touch?
Historical Examples
"You're too smart for your own britches, egghead," Crowley snarled.
The Common ManGuy McCord (AKA Dallas McCord Reynolds)
On the porch was the Egghead feeding ice cream to Mimi Lafontaine.
Skippy BedelleOwen Johnson
"Egghead, you are both intelligent and comforting," said Hickey.
The Eternal BoyOwen Johnson
"Beauty's sister," said the Egghead, gaping with astonishment.
The Eternal BoyOwen Johnson
Butcher and Egghead have got to take two each—that would make sixteen.
The Eternal BoyOwen Johnson
egghead
- informal an intellectual; highbrow
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for egghead
n.
1907, "bald person," from egg (n.) + head (n.). Sense of "intellectual" is attested from 1918, among Chicago newspapermen; popularized by U.S. syndicated columnist Stewart Alsop in 1952 in reference to Adlai Stevenson's presidential campaign.
Adlai Stevenson once told what it was like to be the rare intellectual in politics. "Via ovicapitum dura est," he said, the way of the egghead is hard. [New York Times, Oct. 28, 1982]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper