ninnyhammer

plural ninnyhammers

1. A foolish person; a simpleton.

   1608, A Yorkshire Tragedy, dubiously claimed to be by William Shakespeare Why, the more fool she; aye, the more ninny hammer she.

   3 more examples

   "You silly, awkward, ill-bred country sow," quoth one, "have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus that has saved that clod-pated numskulled ninny-hammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?

   1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

   'Silly noodle!—foolish simpleton!—bewildered ninnyhammer! He had brains in his head once.'

   1836, Joanna Baillie, Enthusiasm, act 2

   'Well, if I don't deserve to be hung on the end of one as a warning to numbskulls! You're nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee: that's what the Gaffer said to me often enough, it being a word of his. Rope!'

   1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King

   Synonyms: ninny, nincompoop, boob