Jolterhead

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A person regarded as stupid, dull-witted, or lacking in sense
2. Someone who is considered foolish, blockheaded, or slow to understand
3. A dull or thick-headed individual who acts or thinks in a simple-minded way

Etymology: The "jolt" in this word once described a blow or bump, and a jolterhead was, literally, a head that had been knocked about. Over time the image shifted to describe a lumpish, dull-witted person, as if the brain had been jarred into stupidity. The first element is probably related to "jolt" in its older sense of a heavy bump, though the exact ancestry of that verb is uncertain. The second element is plain "head," used in English for a person in the same way as blockhead, bonehead, or dunderhead. Compounds of this kind were popular in early modern English for insulting someone's intelligence, which helps explain why this one has stayed in the language of colourful insults.