different between blockhead vs rattlebrain

English

Alternative forms

• block head, block-head

Etymology

1549, block (“n.”) +? head.

Pronunciation

Noun

blockhead (plural blockheads)

1. (colloquial) A stupid person.
2. A sideshow performer who hammers nails or similar items through his or her nostril into the nasal cavity; human blockhead.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:idiot

Derived terms

• blockheaded
• blockheadess

Translations

Verb

blockhead (third-person singular simple present blockheads, present participle blockheading, simple past and past participle blockheaded)

1. To perform as a human blockhead.
2. (rare) To behave in a stupid manner.

Anagrams

• headblock

English

Etymology

rattle +? brain

Noun

rattlebrain (plural rattlebrains)

1. A rattlebrained person.
   • 1924, Herman Melville, Billy Budd, London: Constable & Co., Chapter 13, [1]

     a genial young fellow enough to look at, and something of a rattlebrain, to all appearance.

   • 1962, Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Slave, translated by Isaac Bachevis Singer and Cecil Hemley, New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1985, Part III, p. 297,

     My mother, peace be with her, when she called me a rattlebrain, was right.