Sage-Tips

Where did the word egghead come from?

during presidential campaign of 1952 when the supporters of Adlai Stevenson, Democratic candidate, were called eggheads. Thus orig. the term carried the connotation of ‘politically minded’ and ‘liberal’; today its application is more general.

What does Egghead mean?

intellectual interests
Definition of egghead informal + often disparaging. : a person with intellectual interests or pretensions : a brainy person If you loved to read, you were considered an egghead, and there was absolutely nothing worse than to be considered an egghead.—

What kind of word is egghead?

intellectual
noun Slang: Usually Disparaging. an intellectual.

Does Egghead mean smart?

An egghead is a smart, nerdy person. The word originally meant “bald person,” but it came to mean “smart person” in Chicago-area slang, particularly among newspaper reporters around 1918.

Does egghead mean smart?

What does Egghead mean in a sentence?

This term is usually used with disparaging intent, implying that an intellectual is out-of-touch with ordinary people. Though first used by journalists to insult editorial writers, egghead was popularized as an epithet of Adlai Stevenson, the 1952 Democratic presidential candidate.

Should the word egghead be added to the dictionaries?

The word egghead was originally used without invidious associations, but quickly assumed them, and acquired a much sharper tone than the traditional highbrow. Shortly after the campaign was over, Louis Bromfield, a popular novelist of right-wing political persuasion, suggested that the word might someday find its way into dictionaries as follows:

What is the origin of the word ‘bald person’?

also egg-head, 1907, “bald person,” from egg (n.) + head (n.). Sense of “intellectual” is attested from 1918, among Chicago newspapermen; popularized by U.S. syndicated columnist Stewart Alsop in 1952 in reference to Adlai Stevenson’s presidential campaign.