different between dunderhead vs dolt

English

Etymology

dunder +? head

Noun

dunderhead (plural dunderheads)

1. (somewhat dated) A stupid person; a dunce.
   • 1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, ch. 6:

     You're the stupidest dunderhead I ever saw or ever heard of, so help me Moses!

   • 1915, Basil King, The Side Of The Angels, ch. 3:

     Poor old fellow's a dunderhead. That's where it is in a nutshell. Never could make a living. . . . Nice old chap as ever lived. Only impractical, dreamy. Gentle as a sheep—and no more capable of running that big, expensive plant than a motherly old ewe.

   • 2004 May 23, Maureen Dowd, "Bay of Goats," New York Times (retrieved 29 Nov 2017):

     Cheney & Company swooned over Mr. Chalabi because he was telling them what they wanted to hear. . . . A half-dozen dunderheads who thought they knew everything assumed they could control Mr. Chalabi and use him as the instrument of their utopian fantasies.

Alternative forms

• dinderhead (Southwestern England)

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• dunderheaded

English

Etymology

First used as a noun in Early Modern English, from dialectal English dold (“stupid, confused”), from Middle English dold, a variant of dulled, dult (“dulled”), past participle of dullen, dollen (“to make dull, make stupid”), from dull, dul, dwal (“stupid”). More at dull.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /d?lt/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /d??lt/, /d??lt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /do?lt/
• Rhymes: -??lt

Noun

dolt (plural dolts)

1. (derogatory) A stupid person; a blockhead or dullard.
   • c. 1603, William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice

     O gull! O dolt! As ignorant as dirt!

   • 1627, Michael Drayton, Nimphidia, the Court of Faery

     This Puck seemes but a dreaming dolt.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:fool

Derived terms

• doltery
• doltish

Translations

Verb

dolt (third-person singular simple present dolts, present participle dolting, simple past and past participle dolted)

1. (obsolete) To behave foolishly.

Anagrams

• told

Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?lt/
• Rhymes: -?lt

Verb

dolt

1. second- and third-person singular present indicative of dollen
2. (archaic) plural imperative of dollen

Manx

Verb

dolt (verbal noun doltey, past participle doltit)

1. to adopt, foster, initiate

Synonyms

• (to foster): doltaghey

Swedish

Adjective

dolt

1. absolute indefinite neuter form of dold.

Verb

dolt

1. supine of dölja.