drugstore cowboy

American  

noun

Slang.

1. a young man who loafs around drugstores or on street corners.

2. a person who dresses like a cowboy but has never worked as one.

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Etymology

Origin of drugstore cowboy

First recorded in 1905–10

Example Sentences

Everyday words, surely, but ones that, in the mouth of the drugstore cowboy, acquire meanings altogether different from their common use.

From Scientific American • Nov. 26, 2012

He is a dime-store philosopher, a drugstore cowboy, a men's room conversationalist.

From Time Magazine Archive

Sea worked unnecessarily hard to make its point�misunderstanding breeds wars�because its airman, though well-played and fairly believable, was a simple-minded drugstore cowboy whose military indoctrination never seemed to have progressed beyond peeling potatoes.

From Time Magazine Archive

White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater went so far as to call him "a drugstore cowboy."

From Time Magazine Archive

He described Haupt as a "drugstore cowboy," which was slang for a young man who hangs out on street corners or drugstores.

From Nazi Saboteurs by Samantha Seiple