Meanings
plural lidderons
- archaicdialectalrareOne who is lazy, idle, or bad; rascal; scoundrel; a weakling.
I leve we shall laugh and have liking / To see how this lidderon here he ledges our laws.
c. 14th–15th century, "The York Realist" (real name unknown), “Trial Before Herod”, in The York Mystery Plays, York; republished as “The Litsters: Christ Before Herod”, in Richard Beadle, Pamela M. King, editors, York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, →ISBN, lines 167–1681 more example
My ſcoles are not for unthriftes untaught, For frantick faitours half mad and half ſtraught; But my learning is of another degree
c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.Synonyms: goldbricker, slacker, rapscallion, losel, nonce, knave
Synonyms & antonyms
nounOne who is lazy, idle, or bad; rascal; scoundrel; a weakling.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)lew-“slack, limp”
- Proto-Germanic*lūþrijaz“neglected, dissolute, useless, bad”
- Old Englishlȳþre“bad, wicked, base, mean, corrupt, wretched”
- Middle Englishlidrone
- Englishlidderon
From Middle English lidrone, from lidder, lither (“bad, wicked, false”), from Old English lȳþre (“bad, wicked, base, mean, corrupt, wretched”), from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“neglected, dissolute, useless, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“slack, limp”). More at lither.
More words from Middle English, Old English, Proto-Germanic
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
lidderon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lidderon
“lidderon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lidderon. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “lidderon,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/lidderon.
Source: lidderon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.