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geek

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geek¹

  • /ɡiːk/ Australia, India, New Zealand, UK
  • /ɡik/ Canada, US, Scotland

Rhymes with -iːk

Where it comes from

Started as carnival slang, likely from the British dialectal term geck (“a fool, dupe, simpleton”) (1510s), apparently from Dutch gek or Low German geck, from an imitative verb found in North Sea Germanic and Scandinavian meaning "to croak, cackle," and also "to mock, cheat" (Dutch gekken, German gecken, Danish gække, Norwegian gakke, Swedish gäcka). The root still survives in the Dutch adjective noun gek (“crazy" or "crazy person”). Compare gink and also Old Norse gikkr (“a pert, rude person; jester; fool”).

noun geeks

  1. dated A carnival performer specializing in bizarre and unappetizing behavior. I once saw a geek bite the head off a live chicken.
  2. colloquial A person who is intensely interested in a particular field or hobby and often having limited or nonstandard social skills. Often used with an attributive noun. I was a complete computer geek in high school, but I get out a lot more now.
  3. broadly, colloquial An expert in a technical field, particularly one having to do with computers. My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek.
  4. colloquial, uncountable The subculture of geeks; an esoteric subject of interest that is marginal to the social mainstream; the philosophy, events, and physical artifacts of geeks; geekness. It is totally counter-intuitive. How do these ubernerds get the cute girls? Is it the ultimate triumph of the Bill Gates era, in which geek is the new cool?
  5. colloquial An unfashionable or socially undesirable person. Why do you hang around with them? They’re just geeks.

verb geeks · geeking · geeked

  1. intransitive To perform bizarre and unpleasant feats as part of a carnival. Geeking, unsurprisingly, was among the first carnival acts to be outlawed as the 20th century unfurled.
  2. colloquial, intransitive To enthusiastically engage in geek-like or nerdy interests. It was our first time at a Star Trek convention and we had an amazing time wandering around and geeking.
  3. intransitive, slang To be nervous or hyperactive due to using crack cocaine. I ain't nothin' but a clucker, your typical glass dick suckin' basehead, geekin' motherfucker
  4. broadly, intransitive, slang To be under the influence of a mood-altering drug.

geek²

  • /ɡiːk/ Australia, India, New Zealand, UK
  • /ɡik/ Canada, US, Scotland

Rhymes with -iːk

Where it comes from

Probably related to keek. Compare German gucken (“look”), kieken (“look”) and the dialectal corruption of Dutch keek (“keek”) (from kijk (“look”)), kijken (“to look”). Australian use from Cornish dialect.

noun geeks

  1. Australia, colloquial A look. Have a geek at this.

verb geeks · geeking · geeked

  1. Cornwall To look; to peep; to stare about intently. This gayte bucca-davy, all'ys geekin' round arter a gook.

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