clodhopper
Wheatear: any of various passerine birds.
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UK
#1·Apr 27, 2026UK
Wheatear: any of various passerine birds.
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UK
#2·Apr 27, 2026UK
(UK) A clumsy or foolish person.
...and as the birds then begin to resort to the downs and open commons, the "fallow-chat," "wheat-ear," and "clodhopper," are not unappropriate names.
Origin: Compound of (agentive form of the verb hop). Perhaps affected by analogy with grasshopper. The term originated in the 17th century as a derogatory name for a farm laborer—someone who "hopped" (stomped) over "clods" of earth; attested in the sense of "peasant" since the seventeenth century; the extended sense of "boot" or "shoe" dates from the nineteenth century. While originating in Britain, the term survives most strongly in Southern/Appalachian speech. Origin information sourced from Wiktionary contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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UK
#3·Apr 27, 2026UK
(historical, derogatory) A peasant or yokel (countryperson).
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