different between goober vs earthnut

English

Alternative forms

• gouber

Etymology

Via Gullah from Kongo nguba (“peanut”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /??u?b?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /??ub??/, /??u?b?/
• Rhymes: -u?b?(r)

Noun

goober (plural goobers)

1. (chiefly Southern US) Synonym of peanut.
   • 1833 November 7, Louisville Public Advertiser:

     A few bags Gouber Pea, or Ground Pea

   • 1834 May 24, Cherokee Phoenix, p. 3:

     But he so seam I frade of he, I guess he steal my goober.

2. (chiefly Southern US, dated slang) Synonym of Georgian or North Carolinian, particularly those from the pine forests of the Sandhills region.
   • 1863, Anonymous, "Castle Thunder" in Louis Napoléon Boudrye's Historic Records of the Fifth New York Cavalry..., Appendix, p. 339:

     Conscripts by the dozen...
     Come pouring in the Castle...
     Some from Mississippi state and “Goobers” from Tar river.

   • 1871, Maximilian Schele de Vere, Americanisms, p. 57:

     The peanuts or earth-nuts known in North Carolina and the adjoining States as Goober peas, so that during the late Civil War a conscript from the so-called ‘piney woods’ of that State was apt to be nick-named a Goober.

3. (chiefly US, childish slang) A foolish, simple, or amusingly silly person.
   • 2012 August 5, Nathan Rabin, "The Simpsons (Classic): 'I Love Lisa'", A.V. Club:

     For Ralph, any encouragement is too much. When Lisa gives Ralph a valentine bearing that locomotive pun that so affected The Simpsons’ showrunner, Ralph misinterprets the gesture as a genuine display of romantic interest rather than a gesture of pity from a thoughtful young geek to a friendless goober.

Synonyms

• (fool): See Thesaurus:fool, Thesaurus:idiot, Thesaurus:ignoramus, and Thesaurus:mentally deficient person

Derived terms

• goober-grabbler, goober pea

Verb

goober (third-person singular simple present goobers, present participle goobering, simple past and past participle goobered)

1. (slang, intransitive) To drool or dribble.
2. (slang, transitive) To drip or slather; to apply a gooey substance to a surface.

References

• “goober”, in Merriam–Webster Online Dictionary, (Please provide a date or year).
• “goober, n.”, in OED Online ?, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1900

Anagrams

• bog ore, booger

English

Etymology

From Middle English erthenote, from Old English eorþhnutu, from Proto-Germanic *erþ?hnuts; compare Icelandic jarðhneta, German Erdnuss.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /???(?)?.n?t/
• (US)

Noun

earthnut (plural earthnuts)

1. Any of various roots, tubers, or pods that grow underground.
   1. A tuber belonging to the species Conopodium majus (syns. Bunium flexuosum, Conopodium denudatum), Bunium bulbocastanum (syn. Carum bulbocastanum), or Apios americana (syn. Apios tuberosa)

      Synonyms: earth chestnut, hawknut, pignut

   2. The dwarf ginseng: Panax trifolius
   3. Synonym of peanut (Arachis hypogaea)
   4. The underground tuber belonging to the genus Tuber; the truffle.

      Synonym: truffle

Related terms

• groundnut

Translations

See also

• tree nut

Anagrams

• heartnut