ninnyhammer

Related to ninnyhammer: dictionary

ninnyhammer

(ˈnɪnɪˌhæmə)
n
US and Canadian a ninny
[origin unknown]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
References in periodicals archive ?
Laurence Sterne's Tristram Shandy used "ninnyhammer" in 1767; the term first appeared in Thomas Nashe's encyclopedia of invective Strange Newes in 1592 (170-71).
The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
In the Emyn Muil, when Sam chastises himself for forgetting the rope in his pack, he recalls his Gaffer calling him "nowt but a ninnyhammer" (TT 214).
"The young perish and the old linger, withering": J.R.R. Tolkien on World War II
Abstaining labels them naive ninnyhammers, copouts avoiding political compromise.
Revolution's rocks and ripples
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