galoot

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English

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Etymology

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From Quranic Arabic جالُوت (jālūt, pronounced galūt in Egyptian Arabic), proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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galoot (plural galoots)

  1. (derogatory) A clumsy or uncouth person.
    Synonyms: clodhopper, lout, lummox, oaf
    • 1901, Frank Norris, The Octopus, published 2008, page 293:
      “I talk like a galoot when I get talking to feemale[sic] girls and I can’t lay my tongue to anything that sounds right.”
    • 1901, Winston Churchill, The Crisis, published 2008, page 190:
      “Now there was an ugly galoot whose name isn’t worth mentioning. []
    • 1993, Time, volume 141, numbers 18–26, page 53:
      On TV and in movies and magazine ads, the image of fathers over the past generation evolved from the stern, sturdy father who knew best to a helpless Homer Simpson, or some ham-handed galoot confounded by the prospect of changing a diaper.
    • 2012, John C. Gallagher, The Blood-Dimmed Tide Is Loosed, page 113:
      “So if someone does something I do not agree with, I could call him a galoot and it would be okay?”
      “Something like that, if you were friends.”
      “Are galoots always men?”

Translations

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