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Saturday, November 13, 2010

"blooter" - Word of the Day from the OED

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blooter, n.

DRAFT ENTRY June 2010  
orig. and chiefly Sc. Now colloq.

Brit. /{sm}blu{lm}t{schwa}/, U.S. /{sm}blud{schwa}r/, Sc. /{sm}blut{schwa}r/  Forms: 16- bluiter, 19- blooter; Irish English (north.) 18 blootther, 19- blooter, 19- bloother. [Origin unknown. Compare later BLOOTER v. and BLOOTERED adj., and perhaps also BLUTER adj., BLATTER v, BLETHER v.
  The a1585 reading in quot. a1625 at sense 1 shows a variant of BLEATER n.

    1. A fool; an oaf, a blunderer; a noisy or babbling person (cf. BLATTER n.). Also as a general term of abuse.

c1600 A. MONTGOMERIE Poems (2000) 135 A bluiter buskit lyk a belly blind. a1625 P. HUME Flyting with Montgomerie (Harl.) 141 in G. Stevenson Poems A. Montgomerie (1910), I laugh to see thé, bluiter [a1585 Tullibardine bleitter], Glor in thy ragments. 1825 J. JAMIESON Etymol. Dict. Sc. Lang. Suppl., Bluiter.., a coarse, clumsy, blundering fellow. 1880 W. H. PATTERSON Gloss. Words Antrim & Down, Blootther,..a clumsy blundering rustic. 1890 J. SERVICE Thir Notandums i. 3 The great bluiter hauds her wi' his clavers. 1907 N. MUNRO Daft Days (1923) xiii, ‘Oh, to the devil wi' ye!’ said Wanton Wully, sweating with vexation. ‘Of all the senseless bells! A big, boss bluiter! I canna compel nor coax ye!’ 1914 in Sc. National Dict. (1941) II. (at cited word), The auld bluiter has made a gey mess o't. 1925 Trans. Dumfries & Galloway Nat. Hist. & Antiquarian Soc. 18 He's sic a bluiter o' a speaker I canna make him oot. 1996 C. I. MACAFEE Conc. Ulster Dict. 30/2 Blooter.., a big, stupid, clumsy person..; a silly, foolish person..; a noisy person. 1999 Daily Record (Glasgow) (Nexis) 23 July 13 Women go into pubs..to enjoy a quiet drink with friends. And any halitosis-ridden, hand-wandering blooter who thinks otherwise could find himself stuck up his own optic.

    2. A hard and (usually) wild kick of a ball; a ball kicked in this way. Cf. BLOOTER v. 3a.

[1880 W. H. PATTERSON Gloss. Words Antrim & Down, Blootther, a severe blow.] 1976 Sunday Post (Glasgow) 26 Dec. 35/2 The equaliser, was the goal of the game, for me. A Reid lob, a half-clearance by Fallon and a mighty blooter from the edge of the box from Stark. 1997 Scotsman (Nexis) 6 Oct. 27 The ball was lumped forward relentlessly and after a hectic 23 minutes the score was 2-3 Duarte had been introduced to the subtleties of the big blooter. 2002 Daily Mail (Nexis) 23 Dec. 52 He of the fabulous long-range shot or the useless blooter professes to love everything about Rangers.

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Learnt a lot from vicissitudes of life, I am a student of life, A work in progress, currently(sic) an overweight body but a beautiful mind, Another human seeking happiness. I believe in sharing and absorbing wisdom irrespective of the source. (aa no bhadraa kratavo...)