nincompoop
(ˈnɪnkəmpuːp)
Forms: α. 7 (8) nicompoop, nickumpoop. β. 8 (9) nincum-, 8– nincompoop.
[Of obscure origin; prob. only a fanciful formation. Johnson's suggestion of non compos does not agree with the earliest forms.]
A fool, blockhead, simpleton, ninny.
| α 1676 Wycherley Pl. Dealer ii. i, Thou senseless, impertinent..Nicompoop. 1685 Crowne Sir C. Nice iv. Wks. 1874 IV. 322 Ay, for me, Nickumpoop. 1694 Echard Plautus 109 Thou..hast led me by the Nose, as if I had been the meerest Nicompoop in the World. |
| β 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Nincumpoop or Nickumpoop, a meer Blockhead, Sot or Dolt. 1713 Guardian No. 109 (1756) II. 106 An old Ninny hammer, a Dotard, a Nincompoop. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 174 Trot, nincompoop. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia v. i, No, Mr. Nincompoop,..I put them on a stall. 1807 E. S. Barrett Rising Sun I. 93 Fashion, though a goddess, is a fool, and all her worshippers..are nincompoops. 1851 D. Jerrold St. Giles xii. 117 To make him feel a coward, a nobody, a nincompoop. 1890 J. Fothergill March in Ranks xxviii, I know how to behave without making too great a nincompoop of myself. |
Hence
ˈnincomˌpoopery;
ˈnincomˌpoophood;
ˈnincomˌpoopish a.| 1791 H. Walpole Let. to Miss Berry 26 May, The nincompoophood of her Prince. 1879 Meredith Egoist II. i. 235 His nincompoopish idealizations..would now be annoying. 1900 Speaker 3 Feb. 477/1 That glorious exemplar of nincompoopery. |