Magoo

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A cartoon character, an elderly and very nearsighted man who blunders through dangerous situations without realizing what is happening
2. The fictional elderly figure famous for being almost blind yet stumbling through every mishap while remaining oblivious to the trouble
3. An animated old gentleman whose severe short-sightedness leads him to misread his surroundings and survive hazards by sheer luck

Etymology: "Magoo" is an eponym, a word taken from a person's name. It comes from Mr. Magoo, the short-sighted cartoon character created by the American animation studio UPA. Magoo's comedy came from his near-blindness: he misreads people and places, confidently mistakes one thing for another, and nonetheless blunders his way through each predicament, usually unharmed. That combination of obliviousness and luck is what the name came to stand for. A "magoo" is a figure who stumbles through a situation without seeing what is happening around them, and the cartoon's humour rested on that gap between his confidence and his actual perception.