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slowpoke

[sloh-pohk]
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noun Informal.
  1. a person who makes slow progress.
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Origin of slowpoke

First recorded in 1915–20; slow + poke1

Synonyms

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laggard, dawdler, dallier, slug.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for slowpoke

Historical Examples

  • “Well, slowpoke,” screamed the engine as he came near the car.

    Here and Now Story Book

    Lucy Sprague Mitchell

  • But I hope old Slowpoke Langer and his dray come along before that.

British Dictionary definitions for slowpoke

slowpoke

noun
  1. informal the usual US and Canadian word for slowcoach
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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 slowpoke

n.

also slow poke, 1848, American English from slow (adj.) + poke (n.3), the name of a device, like a yoke with a pole, attached to domestic animals such as pigs and sheep to keep them from escaping enclosures. Bartlett (1859) calls it "a woman's word."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper