Other forms: blockheads
A blockhead is somebody who behaves very stupidly. An utter blockhead, you blockhead, a pack of blockheads.
It is old-fashioned and mild, which is why it survives in comic strips and children's books. It first meant a wooden head used by a wigmaker or a hatter, and calling a person one says their head is as empty as the model.
1nounblockheadSomebody who behaves very stupidly.
“Don't leave the gate open again, you blockhead, or the dog will run off!”
blockhead is an insult.
Also accepted in games: idiot, moron
From block plus head, recorded from 1532, first meaning a wooden head used to shape hats and wigs.
Proto-Indo-European
*bʰelǵ- — thick plank, beam, pile, prop
Proto-Germanic
*blukką — beam, log
Proto-West Germanic
*blokk
Old Dutch
*blok — log
Middle Dutch
blok — treetrunk
Old French
bloc — log, block
Middle English
blok — log, stump, solid piece
English
block
English, today
blockhead
1532, block + -head. block comes from Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic blokk, from Proto-Germanic blukką (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European bʰelǵ- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse bǫlkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc, bulk.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA