goober

English

WOTD – 23 July 2007

Alternative forms

• gouber

Etymology

Via Gullah from Kongo nguba (“peanut”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡuːbə/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡubɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːbə(ɹ)

Noun

goober (plural goobers)

1. (chiefly Southern US) A peanut.
   • 1833 November 7, Louisville Public Advertiser:

     A few bags Gouber Pea, or Ground Pea

   • 1834 May 24, Cherokee Phoenix, page 3:

     But he so seam I frade of he, I guess he steal my goober.

2. (chiefly Southern US, dated slang) A Georgian or North Carolinian, particularly one from the pine forests of the Sandhills region.
   • 1863, anonymous author, “Castle Thunder”, in Louis Napoléon Boudrye, editor, Historic Records of the Fifth New York Cavalry...‎^[1], Appendix, page 339:

     Conscripts by the dozen...
     Come pouring in the Castle...
     Some from Mississippi state and “Goobers” from Tar river.

   • 1871, Maximilian Schele de Vere, Americanisms, page 57:

     The peanuts or earth-nuts known in North Carolina and the adjoining States as Goober peas, so that during the late Civil War a conscript from the so-called ‘piney woods’ of that State was apt to be nick-named a Goober.

3. (chiefly US, childish slang) A foolish, simple, or amusingly silly person.
   • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, “The Simpsons (Classic): 'I Love Lisa'”, in A.V. Club‎^[2]:

     For Ralph, any encouragement is too much. When Lisa gives Ralph a valentine bearing that locomotive pun that so affected The Simpsons’ showrunner, Ralph misinterprets the gesture as a genuine display of romantic interest rather than a gesture of pity from a thoughtful young geek to a friendless goober.

Synonyms

• (fool): See Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot, Thesaurus:ignoramus, and Thesaurus:mentally deficient person

Derived terms

• goober bean
• goober grabbler
• goober-grabbler
• goober pea
• goofy goober

 

Verb

goober (third-person singular simple present goobers, present participle goobering, simple past and past participle goobered)

1. (slang, intransitive) To drool or dribble.
2. (slang, transitive) To drip or slather; to apply a gooey substance to a surface.

References

• “goober”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “goober, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900.

Anagrams

• bog ore, booger