ninnyhammer

ninnyhammer (plural ninnyhammers)

1. a foolish person; a simpleton
   • 1608, A Yorkshire Tragedy, dubiously claimed to be by William Shakespeare

     Why, the more fool she; aye, the more ninny hammer she.

   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull:

     "You silly, awkward, ill-bred country sow," quoth one, "have you no more manners than to rail at Hocus that has saved that clod-pated numskulled ninny-hammer of yours from ruin, and all his family?

   • 1836 Joanna Baillie, Enthusiasm, Act 2

     'Silly noodle!—foolish simpleton!—bewildered ninnyhammer! He had brains in his head once.'

   • 1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King:

     'Well, if I don't deserve to be hung on the end of one as a warning to numbskulls! You're nowt but a ninnyhammer, Sam Gamgee: that's what the Gaffer said to me often enough, it being a word of his. Rope!'

• ninny
• nincompoop
• boob