1 entry 1 source

Idiot

Open directly

Webster's 1828 Dictionary · 1828

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. A man in private station, as distinguished from one holding a public office. [Obs.] St. Austin affirmed that the plain places of Scripture are sufficient to all laics, and all idiots or private persons. Jer. Taylor.

2. An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person, as distinguished from the educated; an ignoramus. [Obs.] Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar people, and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected, despised, and persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes, doctors, and rabbis. C. Blount.

3. A human being destitute of the ordinary intellectual powers, whether congenital, developmental, or accidental; commonly, a person without understanding from birth; a natural fool; a natural; an innocent. Life . . . is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing. Shak.

4. A fool; a simpleton; -- a term of reproach. Weenest thou make an idiot of our dame Chaucer.

Noah Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). Structured JSON vendored from sktzofrenic/webster1828 at commit 5a58d9e0191eefaa51affbc1bb1b8bc5782ba6c0. The upstream README identifies the dictionary text as public domain and the project license as MIT.

Keyboard shortcuts

Search or jump to a reference
K
Previous / next chapter
Previous / next verse
kj
Favorite selected verse
f
Cycle selected verse highlight
h
Note on selected verse
n
Copy selected verse link
y
Open word study for selected verse
w
Open book picker
g
Switch translation
t
Toggle study panel
s
Desk Guide / Word / My
123
Close panels and menus
Esc
This sheet
?