galoot

English

Etymology

From Quranic Arabic جالُوت (jālūt, pronounced galūt in Egyptian Arabic), proper name equivalent to English Goliath, giant warrior of the ancient Philistine ethnicity; cf. connotations of derogatory uses of English Philistine. Doublet of goliath.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡəˈluːt/
• Rhymes: -uːt

Noun

galoot (plural galoots)

1. (derogatory) A clumsy or uncouth person.

   Synonyms: clodhopper, lout, lummox, oaf

   • 1901, Frank Norris, The Octopus, published 2008, page 293:

     “I talk like a galoot when I get talking to feemale^[sic] girls and I can’t lay my tongue to anything that sounds right.”

   • 1901, Winston Churchill, The Crisis, published 2008, page 190:

     “Now there was an ugly galoot whose name isn’t worth mentioning. […] ”

   • 1993, Time, volume 141, numbers 18–26, page 53:

     On TV and in movies and magazine ads, the image of fathers over the past generation evolved from the stern, sturdy father who knew best to a helpless Homer Simpson, or some ham-handed galoot confounded by the prospect of changing a diaper.

   • 2012, John C. Gallagher, The Blood-Dimmed Tide Is Loosed, page 113:

     “So if someone does something I do not agree with, I could call him a galoot and it would be okay?”
     “Something like that, if you were friends.”
     “Are galoots always men?”

Translations

clumsy or uncouth person

• Czech: neotesanec (cs) m, hrubián (cs) m
• Finnish: köntys (fi)
• Georgian: დონდლო (dondlo), მოუქნელი (moukneli)
• German: Tölpel (de) m (pejorative), Dummkopf (de) m, Steinzeitmensch (de) m (figurative)
• Polish: bałwan (pl) m, bałwanica f
• Russian: неуклю́жий челове́к m (neukljúžij čelovék), нело́вкий челове́к m (nelóvkij čelovék), у́валень (ru) m (úvalenʹ)
• Spanish: gaznápiro (es) m