blockhead

plural blockheads · alternative block head · alternative block-head

1. colloquialA stupid person.

   "What a blockhead that Charlie Brown is!"

   1953, Charles Schulz, Peanuts

   4 more examples

   [S]o I think, blockheads, ſaid Manfred; what is it has ſcared you thus?

   1764 December 24 (indicated as 1765), Onuphrio Muralto, translated by William Marshal [pseudonyms; Horace Walpole], chapter I, in The Castle of Otranto, […], London: […] Tho[mas] Lownds […], →OCLC, page 35

   […]like a conceited mechanic in a village ale-house, you would set down every one who differs from you as an ignorant blockhead[…]

   1819, William Hazlitt, “A Letter to William Gifford, Esq.”, in A. R. Waller, Arnold Glover, editors, The Collected Works of William Hazlitt, volume 1, London: J. M. Dent & Co., published 1902, page 368

   Let me tell you something, blockhead: anyone who is stupid enough to do what you did deserves—

   2005, Christopher Paolini, “The Burning Plains”, in Eldest, page 595

   Not all of them, by no means anywhere close to all of them, just the most notable blockheads among them — three altogether, two freshmen and one sophomore, all of whom were among the first to be expelled the next day — masturbated into pairs of stolen panties[…]

   2008, Philip Roth, Indignation

2. abbreviationShort for human blockhead

   Waldo was sent that from an elderly blockhead named Fuzzy in Gibtown, Florida. That's the town to which most freaks retire.

   2005, Brian M. Wiprud, Stuffed, →ISBN, page 262

   2 more examples

   He is a classic sideshow performer, entertaining crowds with feats such as sword swallowing, fire-eating, and chainsaw juggling. His specialty, however, is the human blockhead act, hammering six-inch nails up his nostrils.

   2014, Louis J. Parascandola, John Parascandola -, A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion, →ISBN, page 306

   Burkhardt was a legendary figure in the sideshow world, a mentor and instructor to a new generation of blockheads and other working acts who now train in private classes at Coney Island USA's Sideshow School with Burkhardt's disciple Todd Robbins (Zigun 2006).

   2016, M. Chemers, Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show, →ISBN

present singular third person blockheads · participle present blockheading · participle past blockheaded · past blockheaded · alternative block head · alternative block-head

1. To perform as a human blockhead.

   Like an old-time sideshow, the acts included lying on a bed of nails, blockheading and, of course, fire-eating.

   2007, Frank Cullen, Florence Hackman, Donald McNeilly, Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America, →ISBN

2. rareTo behave in a stupid manner.

   Two years' blockading made fair Malta ours: A noble struggle! -- yet 't is thought (at Rading) That Britain's island shews superior pow'rs, To bear, and to survive, two years blockheading !

   1804, The Spirit of the Public Journals

   2 more examples

   I have blockheading and boxing enough at Master Lovell's, I won't have it repeated here; and in a great passion, I threw the Virgil at his head, hit him in the face, and bruised his lip, and ran away.

   1856, John Adams, The works of John Adams, second President of the United States, →ISBN

   The operation of blockheading is much the same as that of beheading, which Charles I underwent. In both the head is severed from the body. The body goes around without benefit of head. The victim becomes a Headless Horseman, or that more common figure a Headless Pedestrian. In our day the operation is often done not on an executioner's block but on Paradise Avenue in Suburbia Manor.

   1958, The Ethical Outlook: A Journal of the American Ethical Union

plural Blockheads

1. slangA fan of the American boy band New Kids on the Block.

   My sister Shonda and I were complete Blockheads growing up. If we heard “Step by Step” or “Please Don’t Go Girl,” it was ON.

   2022, Chrishell Stause, Under Construction: Because Living My Best Life Took a Little Work, Gallery Books, →ISBN, page 149

   5 more examples

   McCartneymania seemed to be a chance for the parents of Blockheads, the kids who swarmed the New Kids on the Block last week, to do a little gawking of their own.

   1989 December 7, David Silverman, “Harrison rejects McCartney’s tentative offer of a reunion”, in Chicago Tribune, 143d year, number 341, section 5, page 11

   During Danny [Wood]’s solo spot in a New Kids concert, which comes about three-quarters of the way into the show, you can see five to ten minutes of the breakdancing routine that made him famous on the streets of Boston—and when he’s feeling particularly limber, he’ll spin on his head. (Please, do not attempt to do this, Blockheads)!

   1990, Anne M. Raso, New Kids on the Block Handbook, Modern Publishing, →ISBN, page 25

   There’s no doubt it has the right stuff to lure both Blockheads and those who didn’t grow up listening to Donnie Wahlberg’s New Kids on the Block or Mark [Wahlberg]’s Funky Bunch.

   2021 April 25, Cheryl V. Jackson, “Wahlburgers gives area another high-profile brand”, in The Sunday Star, volume 118, number 290, page 8A

   Blockheads and music fans gathered in force to fill the arena and “Bring Back the Time” (the name of the latest New Kids song, which features tourmates En Vogue, Salt-N-Pepa and Rick Astley).

   2022 May 23, Tami Cupples-Hernandez, “‘Growing old together’: NKOTB Mixtape Tour 2022: A 2-hour pause on adulthood”, in The Monitor, volume 113, number 296, page 8A

   The 10,500 Blockheads’ shrieks got even louder when [Donnie] Wahlberg pulled up his shirt to show off six-pack abs on his 52-year-old body.

   2022 June 15, Jon Bream, “New Kids on the Block show off the right stuff with Salt-N-Pepa”, in Star Tribune, volume XLI, number 72, page B2