Origin and history of lummox

1540s, "awkward fellow, boor, bumpkin," of uncertain origin. Perhaps a noun from a dialectal survival of Middle English louten (v.) "bow down" (c. 1300), from Old English lutan "bow low," from Proto-Germanic *lut- "to bow, bend, stoop" (source also of Old Norse lutr "stooping," w

"lump of earth or clay," Old English clod- (in clodhamer "the fieldfare," a kind of thrush), from Proto-Germanic *kludda-, from PIE *gleu- (see clay). Synonymous with collateral clot until the meanings differentiated 18c. Meaning "person" ("mere lump of earth") is from 1590s; tha

1620s, auf, oph (modern form from 1630s; oafish is from 1610s), "a changeling; a foolish or otherwise defective child left by the fairies in place of another carried off," from a Scandinavian source such as Norwegian alfr "silly person," in Old Norse "elf" (see elf). Hence, "a mi

"stare stupidly," 1785, American English, of uncertain origin. Perhaps [Watkins] from gaw, a survival from Middle English gowen "to stare" (c. 1200), from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse ga "to heed," from Proto-Germanic *gawon, from PIE *ghow-e- "to honor, revere, worshi

mid-14c., "big, clumsy, stupid fellow who lives in idleness," from lobre, earlier lobi "lazy lout," probably of Scandinavian origin (compare Swedish dialectal lubber "a plump, lazy fellow"). But OED suggests a possible connection with Old French lobeor "swindler, parasite," with

"rough, irregular stones broken from larger masses," especially "waste fragments from the demolition of a building, etc.," late 14c., robeyl, from Anglo-French *robel "bits of broken stone," which is of obscure origin, apparently related to rubbish "waste fragments" [OED], but al

Old English cald (Anglian), ceald (West Saxon) "producing strongly the sensation which results when the temperature of the skin is lowered," also "having a low temperature," from Proto-Germanic *kaldjon (source also of Old Frisian and Old Saxon kald, Old High German and German ka

early 14c., lumpe, "small mass of material, solid but of irregular shape" (1224 as surname), etymology and original sense unknown. Perhaps it was in Old English, but it is not recorded there. Perhaps from a Scandinavian or continental source: Compare Danish lumpe "block, stump, l

"fruit of the genus Prunus," Middle English ploume, from Old English plume "plum, plum tree," from an early Germanic borrowing (Middle Dutch prume, Dutch pruim, Old High German pfluma, pfruma, German Pflaume) from Vulgar Latin *pruna, from Latin prunum "plum," from Greek prounon,

late 14c., "wise, discerning, judicious," from Old French prudent "with knowledge, deliberate" (c. 1300) and directly from Latin prudentem (nominative prudens) "knowing, skilled, sagacious, circumspect;" rarely in literal sense "foreseeing;" contraction of providens, present part