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numbskull

[nuhm-skuhl]
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noun
  1. numskull.
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numskull

or numb·skull

[nuhm-skuhl]
noun
  1. a dull-witted or stupid person; dolt.
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Origin of numskull

First recorded in 1710–20; num(b) + skull
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for numbskull

Historical Examples

  • I broke my hip when we lived in Steelville, and the doctor was a numbskull.

    A Far Country, Complete

    Winston Churchill

  • “What a numbskull I was to throw it there and not tell anyone about it,” he thought to himself.

    The Firebug

    Roy J. Snell

  • Half awake again, I had a cursing spree, calling myself fifty kinds of a numbskull.

    Stamped Caution

    Raymond Zinke Gallun

  • E 'as more happetite than gumption, and swallers anythink that comes 'andy, like the jolt-'ed or numbskull that 'e is. '

    Bass, Pike, Perch, and Others

    James Alexander Henshall

  • You 've put over your fake; you 've had your laugh; you 've framed it so I 'll be the butt of every numbskull in Ohadi.

    The Cross-Cut

    Courtney Ryley Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for numbskull

numbskull

numskull

noun
  1. a stupid person; dolt; blockhead
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Word Origin

C18: from numb + skull

numskull

noun
  1. a variant spelling of numbskull
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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 numbskull

n.

1717, numskull, from num, old spelling of numb (adj.) + skull. Numskulled (adj.) is attested from 1706.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper