A mooncalf is the abortive fetus of a cow or other farm animal. The term was occasionally applied to an abortive human fetus. The term derives from the formerly widespread superstition, present in many European folk traditions, that such malformed creatures were the product of the sinister influence of the Moon on fetal development.
A fool. A freak. From moon +"Ž calf, after a superstition that the moon caused abnormal fetal developement.
It is described in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as a shy, nocturnal creature with a smooth, pale-grey body, bulging eyes, and four spindly legs with large flat feet. Mooncalves perform dances in the moonlight and are apparently responsible for crop circles.
noun, plural moon·calves. a congenitally grossly deformed and mentally defective person. a foolish person. a person who spends time idly daydreaming.
From moon +"Ž calf, after a superstition that the moon caused abnormal fetal developement.
From moon +"Ž calf, after a superstition that the moon caused abnormal fetal developement.
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A mooncalf (or moon-calf) is a monstrous birth, the abortive fetus of a cow or other farm animal. The term was occasionally applied to an abortive human fetus. The term derives from the once widespread superstition, present in many European folk traditions, that such malformed creatures were the product of the sinister influence ...
Fields in The Bank Dick (1940) advises his prospective son-in-law to avoid being a "mooncalf" by buying shares he has been conned into believing are worth much more than the proffered price. Mooncalf is also the name of a species of magical creatures in the world of the Harry Potter series .
Definition - a boastful and self-important person; a strutting little fellow
There is much that we do not know about snollygoster: where the word comes from, whether it is connected to snallygaster (“a mythical nocturnal creature that is reported chiefly from rural Maryland, is reputed to be part reptile and part bird, and is said to prey on poultry and children”), and whether this is the sort of word that one should avoid putting on a resume..
Pillock (which has also on occasion been spelled pilloch, pillok, and pillick) is one of the hundreds of euphemisms for the male sexual organ in the English language.
Lickspittle (the etymology is pretty self-explanatory with this word) is part of a grand pantheon of English words for sycophants. We have bootlicker, toadeater, ass-kisser, apple-polisher, and fart-catcher … wait, scratch that last one; a fart-catcher is a footman. The point is, we have many words for the sort of person who, you know, licks spit.
It is not often that we know who created a particular word, despite the claims that are made about such-and-such writer inventing this-or-that word; such claims are usually false. In the case of smellfungus, however, we not only know who coined the word (Laurence Sterne), we also know who it is supposed to represent (Tobias Smollett).
The word ninny is probably a shortening and alteration of "an innocent" (with the "n" from "an" getting transferred to the noun) and "hammer" adds punch. Innocent hammer, while a fine choice of name for your Metallica polka cover band, did not have quite what it takes to make it in English as a fixed phrase.
Definition - a stubborn person who insists on making an error in spite of being shown that it is wrong