birther

English

Alternative forms

• Birther

Etymology

From birth +‎ -er (agent noun suffix) or +‎ -er (“supporter”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbɝθɚ/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

birther (plural birthers)

1. (rare) One who gives birth.
   • 1951, Erico Verissimo, Time and the Wind‎^[1], volume 2, page 583:

     […] she couldn't be an "easy birther."

   • 1998 January 22, “Paper Disputes Claims of Oldest Brit to Deliver”, in Philadelphia Inquirer‎^[2], page C2:

     Liz Buttle, Britain's oldest birther, lied about not taking fertility drugs and didn't conceive her 2-month-old boy in the usual way as she insisted.

2. (slang, derogatory, US politics) A believer in the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009–2017), is not a natural-born US citizen, and was therefore ineligible for the presidency under the United States Constitution (Article II, Section 1).
   • 2008 December 8, Jay Bookman, “Shut up about the birth certificate”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution‎^[3]:

     I confess I do have some sympathy for the "birthers," though. As an outsider, it's hard to distinguish between the zany arguments that get official approval by the conservative establishment --- things like Bill Ayers, Michelle Obama's infamous "whitey" tape, the claim that Obama is a closet Marxist --- and those arguments that are considered beyond the pale.

   • 2009 August 7, Paul Krugman, “The Town Hall Mob”, in New York Times‎^[4]:

     Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.

   • 2010 September 29, Mark Benjamin, “What Islamophobia really threatens”, in Salon‎^[5]:

     Earlier this month, columnist and birther Frank Gaffney, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, and others held a news conference on Capitol Hill to release a report on Muslim religious law entitled "Shariah: The Threat to America."

3. (slang, derogatory, US politics) More generally, anyone who questions the eligibility of a candidate for office based on their citizenship status.
   • 2020 August 13, Franco Ordoñez, “Trump and His Campaign Amplify Birther Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris”, in NPR‎^[6]:

     [see title]

   • 2020 August 13, Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand, Tara Subramaniam, CNN‎^[7]:

     On Thursday, he started floating a new birther lie about Sen. Kamala Harris, who, if elected, would be the first Black and Asian American vice president.

Synonyms

• (one who gives birth): woman in labor (US), woman in labour (UK)

Derived terms

• birtherism
• girther

Related terms

• truther

Translations

one who gives birth

• Finnish: synnyttäjä (fi)
• French: parturiente (fr) f
• German: Gebärer m (figuratively), Gebärerin (de) f
• Russian: рожени́ца (ru) f (roženíca), роже́ница (ru) f (rožénica), ро́женица (ru) f (róženica) (colloquial)

(slang, derogatory, US politics) A believer in the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009-2017), was not born in that country, and therefore ineligible for presidency due to national law

• Russian: «рожде́нец» m («roždénec»), «рожде́нка» f («roždénka»)

Verb

birther (third-person singular simple present birthers, present participle birthering, simple past and past participle birthered)

1. (slang, derogatory, US politics) To question the eligibility of a candidate for office or the location of one's birth.
   • 2020, Andrew Solender, “'He Wasn't Born Here': Trump Birthers Biden Near Scranton Ahead Of DNC Acceptance Speech”, in Forbes‎^[8]:

See also

• Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• rebirth