tonto

plural tontos

1. slangSynonym of idiot: someone who is foolish or stupid.

   Even us tontos figured that one out.

   1973, Robert Ludlum, Trevayne, page 153

   Synonyms: idiot

comparative more tonto · superlative most tonto

1. offensivepossiblyslangSynonym of crazy.

   Oi, bruv. He's gone full tonto.

   5 more examples

   He told the businessmen that the law that required the certification by the President was ‘tonto’.

   1982 Feb. 26, New York Times, A10

   His two heroes are both ex-FO types and both terminally tonto about cricket.

   1985 Jan. 31, Listener, p. 34

   Yes, and then I got drunk one night and snogged one of his friends, and he went tonto.

   2011, Gil McNeil, Stand by Your Man, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN

   AMERICA! The richest prize on the bloody planet. Gone, for want of a few paltry seats on the cross benches. George the bloody Third wasn't just mad, he was completely tonto!

   2014, Ben Elton, Time and Time Again, Random House, →ISBN

   Whether you're based in Cyprus or you know we do longer tours in Kenya or Oman or are busy just making it to the brigade at the moment up in Estonia, you know it's going to be a busy army and unfortunately we've got a busy adversary now in Putin. Gone full tonto, I think, as I'd say, and you know that's going to be quite... We've got 1,000 people on standby.

   2021 Feb. 23, Robert Ben L. Wallace, comment at Horse Guards

   Synonyms: crazy

1. uncountablea traditional Ugandan fermented beverage made from bananas

1. fictionThe Native American sidekick of the Lone Ranger.
2. A member of the Tonto Apaches.

plural Tontos

1. A sidekick.

   So do you have a Tonto in your life? If not, find one and make that person your trusted companion.

   2010, Stephen Arterburn with Jack Felton, More Jesus, Less Religion: Moving from Rules to Relationship, page 133

   2 more examples

   Salespeople may see themselves as Lone Rangers, not in need of any help, save for the occasional advice from a Tonto (or technical sales specialist).

   2004, Lee Godden, ZenWise Selling: Mindful Methods to Improve Your Sales, page 141

   Hardcastle realized he couldn't go it alone and would need a “Tonto.” He found his trusty sidekick in “Skid” Mark McCormack

   2006, Douglas Snauffer, Crime television, page 130

2. A Native American who accepts a subservient position to a white person.

   But clearly she's a Two Hearts, not a Tonto.

   2007, Lisa Alther, Kinfolks: falling off the family tree, page 20

   5 more examples

   They called Indians like him — that is, any Indian who tried to make it by working within the system — a "Tonto."

   1982, Iron Eyes Cody with Collin Perry, Iron Eyes, my life as a Hollywood Indian

   Once more, Beyond the Survey takes up the topic, introducing a character Mowees (obviously an "Indianificarion" of the common Metis name Moise) who unfortunately never rises above the level of a Tonto figure.

   1999, Ellenor Ranghild Merriken, Looking for country: a Norwegian immigrant's Alberta memoir, page 21

   Law Schools, a critical race theorist likened Kennedy to a Tonto figure, the fictional Indian whose loyalty to the Lone Ranger set him apart from, if not against, his tribe.

   2002, Jim Sleeper, Liberal racism, page 130

   An example: The Black Panther Chairman abuses the black Supreme Court Justice (the latter having just denied a Cleaver plea) as an "Uncle Tom, a bootlicker, a nigger pig, a Tonto, and a punk."

   2003, Benjamin DeMott with Arthur Asa Berger, Supergrow: essays and reports on imagination in America, page 11

   In the best circumstances, he was devastatingly witty and slyly subversive; in the worst, he was merely a Tonto with an Afro.

   2007, Jabari Asim, The N word: who can say it, who shouldn't, and why, page 185