noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·High school level
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"I entitled the piece "Dorky", dork being slang for a person who does not belong to popular groups, usually an outsider, an odd person, sometimes inept, other times cranky."
"As a matter of fact, this slob was full of information today. He told me why we Jews have different dorks."
"I spent all weekend dorking with the router settings with no luck, though I could get any one out of my 5 PCs on the net when connected directly to the modem."
"I don't want to look like a dork."
A quirky, silly or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends and typically has unfashionable hobbies. (Overlaps conceptually with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same level of intelligence.)
Common synonyms include: nerd, botch, cornballs, dag, dweeb, dweebs.
I don't want to look like a dork.
Pronounced /dɔːk/.
First use appears in the US c. 1961. The sense of a "silly person" is presumably from earlier use as a bowdlerization of dick (“penis”) in student slang, particularly the Midwest. Despite a common misconception, it has never referred specifically to a whale's penis, but penises in general. Alternative etymology derives from dialectal Norwegian dorg (“a mass; heap; a heavy, dimwitted, slovenly person”).
Uncertain; apparently from Scots. See dirk.