Meanings
alternative whomper-jawed · alternative whopperjawed
- Southern USTexasdialectalespeciallyAskew, amiss; not fitting, moving or working properly.
The pending bill as it stands presents another whomper-jawed, lopsided, cross-eyed picture.
1942 September 30, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agricultural Library, Legislative History, Public Law 729 - 77th Congress, Chapter 578 - 2d Session, H.R. 7565, page 7893, column 31 more example
Honestly, I felt pretty wolfish that time. I didn’t have a thing to defend myself with but my fist. But I was much of a man, and he was a little gangling, bandy-legged, whomper-jawed, worthless specimen of humanity.
1942, Salomon Alexander Wright, My Rambles as East Texas Cowboy, Hunter, Fisherman, Tie-Cutter, Austin, Texas: Texas Folklore Society, page 92
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
Ealiest known use is from 1942 (see quotations), and it was first mentioned in 1931. Possibly from an alteration of earlier whopperjawed, wopperjawed, wapper-jawed, ultimately related to wapper jaw (“a projecting underjaw”) (1825).
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
whomperjawed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whomperjawed
“whomperjawed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whomperjawed. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whomperjawed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whomperjawed.
Source: whomperjawed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.