Browse phrases beginning with: [A][B][C][D][E][F][G][H][I][J][K][L][M][N][O][P][Q][R][S][T][U,V][W][X,Y,Z] Clod-hopperMeaning A rough, unsophisticated countryman. Origin There's not a great deal to be said about this term. The derivation isn't known, although it could be as a comic allusion to grasshopper. Clods are lumps of earth, of course, and the word derives as a variant of 'clot' - a coagulation. The term clod-hopper is first cited in the definition in 'A new dictionary of the terms ancient and modern of the canting crew', 1690:
It was usually used, as a term of derision, by townspeople at the expense of muddy booted yokels - much in the way the 'bog-trotter' is now used to defame the rural Irish. Since the early 19th century, in the UK and USA, 'clod-hoppers' were also the name given to ploghmen's boots. |