| 释义 |
▪ I. ‖ moron1 Obs.
[F. moron, mouron (OF. moronne, 14th c.).]
A variety of salamander.
1774Goldsmith Nat. Hist. (1824) III. 158 With respect to the Salamander, the whole tribe, from the Moron to the Gekko, are said to be venomous to the last degree.
▪ II. moron2 orig. U.S.|ˈmɔərən|
[f. L. mōrus, Gr. µωρός stupid.]
a. One of the highest class of feeble-minded; an adult person having a mental age of between eight and twelve. Also attrib.
The term was first adopted and given this meaning by the American Association for the Study of the Feeble-minded in 1910.
1910H. H. Goddard Let. 29 Apr. in Jrnl. Psycho-Asthenics Sept.–Dec. 65 The other (suggestion) is to call them [sc. feeble-minded children] by the Greek word ‘moron’. It is defined as one who is lacking in intelligence, one who is deficient in judgement or sense. 1912― Kallikak Family 54 The type of feeblemindedness of which we are speaking is the one to which Deborah belongs, that is, to the high grade, or moron. 1919H. Woodrow Brightness & Dullness in Children iii. 45 The term moron..is a new term... The desirability of this new term arose from the fact that the term feeble-minded, which is used in England to designate only the highest class of mental defectives, had long been used in America to include all three classes. 1937C. L. Burt Subnormal Mind (rev. ed.) ii. 102 All through their years of training, most of them [sc. social workers and teachers] had never, to their certain knowledge, set eyes on a moron or an imbecile. 1948J. W. Bridges Psychol. xxiv. 352 The moron has an I.Q. of 50 to 70..and the idiot below 20. This distinction is made on the basis of intelligence test results and is consequently not very reliable. 1968W. B. Stephens tr. Inhelder's Diagnosis of Reasoning in Mentally Retarded ii. 72 The normal child of seven, the moron of twelve, or even the imbecile assimilates an enormous number of varied experiences which are..qualitatively irreducible from one level to the other.
b. colloq. A stupid or slow-witted person; a fool. Also attrib.
1922W. R. Inge in Edin. Rev. July 48 It is possible that while we are governed by high-grade ‘morons’ there will be no practical recognition of the dangers which threaten us. 1922H. Titus Timber iii. 37 So this backwoods moron, even, knew something about his affairs that John Taylor did not know. 1922L. Stoddard Revolt against Civilization iv. 129 It is a mutilated, deformed, moron humanity which glowers or drivels at us through expressionist pictures. 1928Hecht & MacArthur Front Page ii. 91 Another one of your moron blunders. 1930R. Macaulay Staying with Relations ii. 22 ‘You mutt,’ said young Mrs. Rickaby..‘Catherine will think we're all morons.’ 1959Punch 10 June 780/2 It was so obvious it might have occurred to anyone but a complete moron. 1968M. Woodhouse Rock Baby xxiii. 219 What we have here is a poxed-up, paralytic bunch of morons... They're technically incompetent..and they're pretty useless in almost every other field. 1975G. Moffat Miss Pink xii. 169 He'd have had to be a moron not to have guessed that the killer was really after himself.
So moˈronic a., moˈronically adv.
1926N.Y. Herald-Trib. 28 Nov. vii. 4/2 A facetious account of a young girl's discovery that her brother had died of a venereal disease which has the romping moronic quality of a tabloid front page. 1931Churchman 14 Feb. 15 The philosophers go home considerably enheartened when they find Socrates moronically low in his I.Q. score. 1957R. A. Heinlein Door into Summer (1960) ii. 25 It was a moronically simple idea: don't repair, replace. 1957Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Oct. 621/3 The psychopathic juvenile delinquent, moronically searching for ‘the truth’. 1959Punch 13 May 641/2 They interrupt Macbeth, they cackle at M. Hulot, they share their moronic comments with their escorts. 1975D. Bloodworth Clients of Omega xxi. 204 Provoking desperate people into believing that they can only bring about unity among men by knocking their moronic heads together.
▪ III. moron
obs. form of morn. |