goober
Americannoun
noun
Usage
What does goober mean? Goober is an informal name for a peanut. The peanut is sometimes also called the goober pea. Goober is also used as a slang term for an unsophisticated, goofy person, especially one from a rural area, somewhat similar to the term bumpkin. Goober is primarily used in the Southern and Midland United States. Example: I can’t wait to get some boiled goobers at a roadside stand when I go back home to Georgia.
Etymology
Origin of goober
First recorded in 1825–35; of Bantu origin; compare Kongo, Kimbundu nguba “peanut”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Welsh Fire's Jonny Bairstow gives Jamie Smith a reprieve after dropping a "goober" of a catch to leave the London Spirit batsman at the crease in the Men's Hundred at Sophia Gardens.
From BBC • Aug. 9, 2025
The roughly hewn goober had been strapped to the back of a logging truck, hauled across the country and parked near the White House.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 9, 2025
This time, the giant goober is made of sheet metal, not fiberglass.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 24, 2023
Our textbooks told of the Louisiana Purchase; the Johnstown, Pa., flood; the great San Francisco earthquake; and George Washington Carver’s development of hundreds of products from the common goober.
From New York Times • Jun. 4, 2021
Meanwhile, I just stood there in front of the meetinghouse like a goober as the crowd thinned out around me.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
