dumbbell

[duhm-bel] Origin

dumb·bell

[duhm-bel]
noun
1.
a gymnastic apparatus consisting of two wooden or metal balls connected by a short bar serving as a handle, used as a weight for exercising.
2.
a stupid person.

Origin:
1705–15; dumb + bell1


2. dunce, ignoramus, fool, blockhead, dimwit.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To dumbbell

00:10

00:09

00:08

00:07

00:06

00:05

00:04

00:03

00:02

00:01

Dumbbell is always a great word to know.
So is zedonk. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
Collins
World English Dictionary
dumbbell (ˈdʌmˌbɛl)
 
n
1.  gymnastics, weightlifting an exercising weight consisting of a single bar with a heavy ball or disc at either end
2.  a small wooden object shaped like this used in dog training for the dog to retrieve
3.  slang chiefly (US), (Canadian) a fool

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

dumbbell
"weighted bar used for exercise," 1711, originally an apparatus like that used to ring a church bell, but without the bell; used for exercise but sometimes also to practice ringing changes. Figurative sense of "blockhead" first recorded 1920, Amer.Eng.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary

dumbbell definition


  1. n.
    a stupid oaf. (Also a rude term of address.) : I'm afraid I come on like a dumbbell sometimes.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Image for dumbbell
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT