Word: dude Part of Speech: noun Etymology: Uncertain, though likely a clipping of doodle (“fool, simpleton, mindless person”), perhaps with reference to the fashionable “Yankee Doodle dandy” in the 18th-century lyrics of the song “Yankee Doodle”; the word is first attested in 1883 as a New York City slang term of contempt for a “fastidious man, fop”. If so, then related to German Low German Dudeldop, Dudendop (“fool, dunce”), Saterland Frisian Duddigegen (“idiot”). It has also been suggested that the word is derived from dudes (“old rags”; compare duds) and dudesman (“scarecrow”), or possibly related to dawdle; It has also been suggested the word derives from the Irish dúid. The common claim that the term derives from (or is) a word for a camel's foreskin (or some other vulgar thing, like a hair on a cow, horse, donkey, or elephant's bottom) is false. Pronunciation: /duːd/, [dʉːwd], /d(j)uːd/, /ɖ(j)uɖ/ 1. A man, generally a younger man. Labels: Canada, US, colloquial Example: So we were at the mall and these two dudes just walk up to us and say "hi". Example: A very pretty little dudine of Fifth Avenue is much admired by the dudes in her neighborhood, and it has been observed on several occasions that she appeared to be able to discriminate between them, and not only shows a preference for one dude over another; but is able to recognize the dudes she likes after an interval of separation. It is said, also, that in accepting the attentions of her dude wooers, she shows a peculiar mimicry of the coquettish manners of human girls. 2. A term of address for someone, often but not exclusively a man, particularly when hailing, cautioning them or offering advice. Labels: colloquial Example: Hey, dude, how's it going? Example: Dude, I'd be careful around the principal; he's having a bad day. 3. A tourist. Labels: slang Example: Dudes are at least as entertaining as cows, even when they don't mean to be. A cow can’t voice that honestly curious question that turns a poor cowboy into a laughing fool the way a dude can. Probably nothing in the world can move a cowboy more than a newborn calf's clean, good looks and actions, unless it’s the look of awe on a little dude’s face the first time it sees a cowboy on a horse. Example: The "dudes" are the automobile and bus tourists, mere passers-through: thousands a summer day, millions a season. […] "Dude" expresses perfectly the image that seasonals from the stagecoach driver to the gas-pump jockey have had of tourists: soft, wealthy, uninitiated, ignorant, lowland and (preferably) eastern. […] For the average dude – if such a construct may be admitted – the park is an unusual commodity, financed by his taxes, from which he is therefore entitled to extract as much use and pleasure as he can from the rangers and seasonals who stand in his way. 4. A birder who has expensive clothing and equipment, but scant knowledge of birds, their fieldmarks, habits, etc. Labels: derogatory Example: I am forever slagging off some poor harmless dude or pitiful demented twitcher[.] 5. A man who is very concerned about his dress and appearance; a dandy, a fop. Labels: archaic Example: When the dude dons gloves couleur de chien jaune éclairé de la lune— Example: There are three kinds of dudes in New York. There is the inanimate rich dude who don't want to do a thing on earth but exhibit himself. Then there is the poor dude, who dresses like the rich dude, and who wants to marry a rich girl […]