geek

plural geeks

1. datedA carnival performer specializing in bizarre and unappetizing behavior.

   I once saw a geek bite the head off a live chicken.

   1 more example

   You hand in your ticket / And you go watch the geek / Who immediately walks up to you / When he hears you speak / And says, “How does it feel to / be such a freak?”

   1965, Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man”, in Highway 61 Revisited

   Synonyms: freak

2. colloquialA person who is intensely interested in a particular field or hobby and often having limited or nonstandard social skills. Often used with an attributive noun.

   Most famous actors are really theater geeks at heart.

   1 more example

   I was a complete computer geek in high school, but I get out a lot more now.

   Synonyms: anorak, buff, dork, freak, nerd, otaku, propeller head

3. broadlycolloquialAn expert in a technical field, particularly one having to do with computers.

   My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek.

   3 more examples

   I challenge these geeks to show a little spirit and produce an 81 tier bonfire by Friday night. It would also be nice to see a few kegs and some spirit around their awaited creation each night. Until then I rest my case.

   1978 November 14, Jeff Boylan, “Excerpts”, in Bob Wasserman, editor, The Tech, volume 98, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2014, page 1

   i eschew the use of "foo" "bar" and other dill-beak geek dull unimaginative temporary filenames! i find it much better to use names like: ingracl-bbp.goo or dog or ignatz

   1983 February 16, dd, “Re: Temporary file names”, in net.misc (Usenet), retrieved 21 Sep 2016, message-ID <bnews.yale-com.883>

   The community of radio amateurs—trespassing fiddlers on the cutting edge of technological possibilities—prefigured the geek community that was to inhabit Silicon Valley 50 years later.

   2012, Fiorenza Belussi, Udo Hermann Staber, Managing Networks of Creativity, page 92

   Synonyms: freak, hacker, tech guru

4. colloquialuncountableThe subculture of geeks; an esoteric subject of interest that is marginal to the social mainstream; the philosophy, events, and physical artifacts of geeks; geekness.

   It is totally counter-intuitive. How do these ubernerds get the cute girls? Is it the ultimate triumph of the Bill Gates era, in which geek is the new cool?

   2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 265

   1 more example

   "Basically," says [Harry J.] Knowles [founder, 'Ain't It Cool News' website], "it's my job to stay on top of the latest and coolest in geek that's out there, specifically as it relates to the world of film."

   2007, Kelly Boler, inmag.com

5. colloquialAn unfashionable or socially undesirable person.

   Why do you hang around with them? They’re just geeks.

   2 more examples

   But you can't be any geek off the street, gotta be handy with the steel, if you know what I mean, earn your keep.

   1988, Young Guns (film)

   Yeah, well, listen. You ought to ditch the two geeks you're in the car with now and get in with us. But that's all right, we'll worry about that later.

   1993, Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused (motion picture), spoken by Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey)

   Synonyms: loser, nonce, waste of space, absolute zero, assbucket, asswipe, badling, blatherskite

present singular third person geeks · participle present geeking · participle past geeked · past geeked

1. intransitiveTo perform bizarre and unpleasant feats as part of a carnival.

   Geeking, unsurprisingly, was among the first carnival acts to be outlawed as the 20th century unfurled.

   1995, Jack Hunter, Inside Teradome, page 23

2. colloquialintransitiveTo enthusiastically engage in geek-like or nerdy interests.

   It was our first time at a Star Trek convention and we had an amazing time wandering around and geeking.

3. intransitiveslangAfrican-American VernacularTo be nervous or hyperactive due to using crack cocaine.

   I'm tweakin', I'm geekin', I'm tweakin', I'm geekin'

   2022 December 2, “I Can't Save You”performed by Metro Boomin and Future

   2 more examples

   I ain't nothin' but a clucker, your typical glass dick suckin' basehead, geekin' motherfucker

   1994 August 30, “Stoned Junkee”, in Super Tight, performed by UGK

   They know I geek a lot / They don't know I keep a Glock

   2017 January 27, “Slippery”, in Culture, performed by Migos

   1. broadlyintransitiveslangAfrican-American VernacularTo be under the influence of a mood-altering drug.

plural geeks

1. AustraliacolloquialA look.

   Have a geek at this.

   1 more example

   Then he says let′s have a geek at some of the elephant pictures instead.

   2005, Carmel Bird, The Essential Bird, unnumbered page

   Synonyms: butcher’s, gander, dekko

present singular third person geeks · participle present geeking · participle past geeked · past geeked

1. CornwallTo look; to peep; to stare about intently.

   This gayte bucca-davy, all'ys geekin' round arter a gook.

   1891, Joseph Henry Pearce, Esther Pentreath

   1 more example

   I will geek, I will geek I tell ee; while I have the spirit of a man in me I'll geek.

   1895, Joseph Thomas, Randigal Rhymes

   Synonyms: look