goober

goober

English

WOTD – 23 July 2007

Alternative forms

• gouber

Etymology

Via Gullah from Kongo nguba (“peanut”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɡuːbə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈɡubəɹ/, /ˈɡuːbɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːbə(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.
• “goober, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1900.

Anagrams

• bog ore, booger