Meanings
poindexter1
Poindexter2
- A surname from Jersey Norman.
plural Poindexters · alternative poindexter
- UScolloquialA bookish or socially unskilled person.
Brain: A quantum-interface bomb? Are you insane in the membrane? / Philip Fry: You got it, Poindexter!
2003 April 6, David X. Cohen, “The Why of Fry”, in Futurama, season 5, episode 8, Fox Broadcasting Company1 more example
On first listen, Americans of a certain vintage would call one a Poindexter, while older Brits would regard the other as a swot.
2023 August 8, Janan Ganesh, “The oneness of Ron DeSantis and Rishi Sunak”, in Financial TimesSynonyms: geek, nerd, dork, flabbergast, flabagast, flabaghast, gink, nerd
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA bookish or socially unskilled person.
Origin
- nrf-jerPoingdestre
- EnglishPoindexter
From Jersey Norman Poingdestre (literally “right fist”). The sense “bookish or socially unskilled person” is from the character of the same name in the 1959 animated television series Felix the Cat, which is a revival of the original Felix the Cat animated films from 1919 to 1936. Its first use appears c. 1981 in the publication University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill Slang.
More words from nrf-jer
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
poindexter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poindexter
“poindexter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poindexter. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “poindexter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/poindexter.
Source: poindexter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.