Herbert

//ˈhɝbɚt// name, noun, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A male given name from the Germanic languages, in modern use partly transferred back from the surname.

    "Herbert, Sydney, Milton, Seymour. You know, all the time I was growing up I thought those were the most ordinary Jewish first names, until someone pointed out that they were British last names. I guess to my great-grandparents those names must have sounded so modern, so sophisticated, so - non-Eastern European. And now they're just Uncle Miltie, Uncle Sy, Uncle Herb. Do other people have Uncle Donne and Uncle Wordsworth?"

  2. 2
    A surname originating as a patronymic.

    "And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me."

  3. 3
    A small town in North Otago, New Zealand.
  4. 4
    A rural locality in Litchfield Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia.
  5. 5
    A former government town in South Australia.
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    A town in the Rural Municipality of Morse No. 165, Saskatchewan, Canada.
  2. 7
    An unincorporated community in Boone County, Illinois, United States.
Noun
  1. 1
    A working-class youth, especially male. slang

    "It was the Ulster Annual Jamboree. For weeks past, hundreds of spotty-faced herberts, with yodelling voices and chin fuzz, had tied three million knots, started ten thousand twig fires, and completed six hundred leaf fires; perfect training for round about 3000BC but bloody useless in the twentieth century."

  2. 2
    A foolish or contemptible person, especially male. slang

    "For quotations using this term, see Citations:herbert."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Old French Herbert, from Frankish *Hariberht.

Etymology 2

* (working-class youth): From the name Herbert. The term was popularised by the punk movement but predates it.

Next best steps

Mini challenge

Unscramble this word: herbert