Origin: 1900–05; < Yiddish puts literally, ornament, finery, probably noun derivative of putsn to clean, shine; compare early modern German butzen to decorate (German putzen to clean, brighten)
"obnoxious man, fool," 1964, from Yiddish, from Ger. putz, lit. "finery, adornment," obviously used here in an ironic sense. Earlier in slang sense of "penis" (1934, in "Tropic of Cancer"); a non-ironic sense is in putz "Nativity display around a Christmas tree" (1902), from Pennsylvania Dutch.
n. the penis. (Usually objectionable.) : He held his hands over his putz and ran for the bedroom.
n. a stupid or obnoxious male; a stupid person. (Usually objectionable.) : What a stupid putz!
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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