gawpus dial.
(ˈgɔːpəs)
Also gaupus.
[? f. gawp v.]
A silly person, simpleton.
| 1826 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 110 O ye gawpus! Ye great gawpus! It's me, man—it's me! 1853 Mrs. Gaskell Ruth II. iii. 44 The great gaupus never seed that I were pipeclaying the same places twice over. 1880 Mrs. Parr Adam & Eve xxvi. 362 The gawpuses have sooked it all in, and I'll be bound, raced off so fast as wind and tide 'ud carry 'em. |
So ˈgawpy, of the same meaning.
| 1825–80 Jamieson, Gaup, a stupid person, other forms are Gaupus, Gaupie. Banffsh. 1843 Carlyle in Froude Life 1834–1881 (1884) I. 306 Those open-mouthed wondering gawpies, who lodge you for the sake of looking at you. |