geek
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: gēk
ipa: /ɡiːk/
rhymes: -iːk
Forms: form: geeks
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: I once saw a geek bite the head off a live chicken.
text: You hand in your ticket / And you go watch the geek / Who immediately walks up to you / When he hears you speak / And says, “How does it feel to / be such a freak?”
ref: 1965, Bob Dylan, “Ballad of a Thin Man”, in Highway 61 Revisited:
glosses: A carnival performer specializing in bizarre and unappetizing behavior.
examples: text: I was a complete computer geek in high school, but I get out a lot more now.
text: Most famous actors are really theater geeks at heart.
glosses: 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.
examples: text: My laptop’s locked up again. I need a geek.
text: I challenge these geeks to show a little spirit and produce an 81 tier bonfire by Friday night. It would also be nice to see a few kegs and some spirit around their awaited creation each night. Until then I rest my case.
ref: 1978 November 14, Jeff Boylan, “Excerpts”, in Bob Wasserman, editor, The Tech, volume 98, Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT, archived from the original on 10 Aug 2014, page 1:
text: i eschew the use of "foo" "bar" and other dill-beak geek dull unimaginative temporary filenames! i find it much better to use names like: ingracl-bbp.goo or dog or ignatz
ref: 1983 February 16, dd, “Re: Temporary file names”, in net.misc (Usenet), retrieved 21 Sep 2016, message-ID <bnews.yale-com.883>:
text: The community of radio amateurs—trespassing fiddlers on the cutting edge of technological possibilities—prefigured the geek community that was to inhabit Silicon Valley 50 years later.
ref: 2012, Fiorenza Belussi, Udo Hermann Staber, Managing Networks of Creativity, page 92:
glosses: An expert in a technical field, particularly one having to do with computers.
examples: text: 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?
ref: 2005, Sean Dooley, The Big Twitch, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, page 265:
text: "Basically," says [Harry J.] Knowles [founder, 'Ain't It Cool News' website], "it's my job to stay on top of the latest and coolest in geek that's out there, specifically as it relates to the world of film."
ref: 2007, Kelly Boler, inmag.com:
glosses: 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.
examples: text: Why do you hang around with them? They’re just geeks.
text: Yeah, well, listen. You ought to ditch the two geeks you're in the car with now and get in with us. But that's all right, we'll worry about that later.
ref: 1993, Richard Linklater, Dazed and Confused (motion picture), spoken by Wooderson (Matthew McConaughey):
glosses: An unfashionable or socially undesirable person.
Synonyms: sense: carnival performer
word: freak
sense: person intensely interested in a particular field or hobby
word: otaku
word: anorak
word: dork
word: nerd
word: propeller head
sense: expert in a technical field
word: freak
sense: expert in a technical field
word: hacker
sense: expert in a technical field
word: tech guru
sense: unfashionable or socially undesirable person
word: loser
word: nonce
word: waste of space
word: worthless person
Derived terms: alpha geek
cybergeek
fake geek girl
geekazoid
geek chic
geek code
geekdar
geekdom
geekerati
geekery
geekette
geekfest
geekful
geekgasm
geekhead
geekhood
geekish
geekism
geekless
geeklet
geeklike
geekling
geekly
geekness
geekosphere
geek-out
geek out
geekout
geeksome
geekspeak
geeksploitation
geeksta
geekster
geeksville
geektastic
geekwad
geekwear
geeky
gleek
neek
nongeek
pencil geek
roadgeek
supergeek
technogeek
techno geek
ubergeek