# birther
## English
### Alternative forms

* Birther

### Etymology

From birth +‎ -er (agent noun suffix) or +‎ -er (“supporter”).

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈbɝθɚ/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

### Noun

birther (plural birthers)
* (rare) One who gives birth.
** 1951, Erico Verissimo, Time and the Wind‎, volume 2, page 583:[…] she couldn't be an "easy birther."
** 1998 January 22, “Paper Disputes Claims of Oldest Brit to Deliver”, in Philadelphia Inquirer‎, archived from the original on 19 January 2012, page C2:Liz Buttle, Britain's oldest birther, lied about not taking fertility drugs and didn't conceive her 2-month-old boy in the usual way as she insisted.
* (slang, derogatory, US politics) A believer in the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama, 44th president of the United States (2009–2017), is not a natural-born US citizen, and was therefore ineligible for the presidency under the United States Constitution (Article II, Section 1).
** 2008 December 8, Jay Bookman, “Shut up about the birth certificate”, in Atlanta Journal-Constitution‎, archived from the original on 19 January 2012:I confess I do have some sympathy for the "birthers," though. As an outsider, it's hard to distinguish between the zany arguments that get official approval by the conservative establishment --- things like Bill Ayers, Michelle Obama's infamous "whitey" tape, the claim that Obama is a closet Marxist --- and those arguments that are considered beyond the pale.
** 2009 August 7, Paul Krugman, “The Town Hall Mob”, in New York Times‎:Senator Dick Durbin has suggested that the birthers and the health care protesters are one and the same; we don’t know how many of the protesters are birthers, but it wouldn’t be surprising if it’s a substantial fraction.
** 2010 September 29, Mark Benjamin, “What Islamophobia really threatens”, in Salon‎:Earlier this month, columnist and birther Frank Gaffney, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., the ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committee, and others held a news conference on Capitol Hill to release a report on Muslim religious law entitled "Shariah: The Threat to America."
* (slang, derogatory, US politics) More generally, anyone who questions the eligibility of a candidate for office based on their citizenship status.
** 2020 August 13, Franco Ordoñez, “Trump and His Campaign Amplify Birther Conspiracy Against Kamala Harris”, in NPR‎:[see title]
** 2020 August 13, Daniel Dale, Holmes Lybrand, Tara Subramaniam, CNN‎:On Thursday, he started floating a new birther lie about Sen. Kamala Harris, who, if elected, would be the first Black and Asian American vice president.

#### Synonyms

* (one who gives birth): woman in labor (US), woman in labour (UK)

#### Derived terms

* birtherism
* girther

#### Related terms

* truther

#### Translations
### Verb

birther (third-person singular simple present birthers, present participle birthering, simple past and past participle birthered)
* (slang, derogatory, US politics) To question the eligibility of a candidate for office or the location of one's birth.
** 2020, Andrew Solender, “'He Wasn't Born Here': Trump Birthers Biden Near Scranton Ahead Of DNC Acceptance Speech”, in Forbes‎:

### See also

* Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* rebirth