grassy knolln.
/ˌɡrɑːsɪ ˈnəʊl/, /ˌɡrɑːsɪ ˈnɒl/, /ˌɡrasɪ ˈnəʊl/, /ˌɡrasɪ ˈnɒl/, U.S. /ˌɡræsi ˈnoʊl/ With reference or allusion to the conspiracy theory that a second gunman (positioned on a grass verge) was involved in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (22 November 1963); (later also in extended use) with reference to anything considered as a major factor or issue in any investigation around which conspiracy theories have been constructed.Frequently attributive, as grassy-knoll theory, etc.
ΚΠ
1966 Alice (Texas) Daily Echo 14 Nov. (caption) If ‘grassy knoll’ theory holds, there must have been more than one assassin.
1978 PBS NewsHour (transcript of TV programme) (Nexis) 29 Dec. The four-bullets grassy-knoll idea..runs directly counter to the findings of the Warren Commission.
1989 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 21 Nov. b1 As his [sc. Gene Stalling's] public acclaim grew, Bidwill's popularity ratings plummeted. Bidwill, and..Wilson, resented it. So they decided, I believe, to set a trap. Here is my grassy knoll theory: [etc.].
1990 Village Voice (N.Y.) 11 Dec. 39/1 Far out on the grassy knoll of sexology, there is a cult of prochastity researchers who claim that the late Alfred Kinsey was a secret sex criminal,..in a grand conspiracy to queer the nation.
1996 Infoworld 19 Aug. 90/3 My..favorite [conspiracy theory]: Netscape is blocking Microsoft... Fun, but these grassy knoll theories don't hold together when I point my Netscape browser to Microsoft's site.
1999 M. Gregory Diana: Last Days ix. 147 In Britain, some of the media followed Mohamed Fayed's spokesman, Michael Cole, in referring to the white Fiat Uno as the ‘grassy knoll’ of the investigation.
2004 Nation 29 Nov. 5/1 Have ballot booths with electronic voting machines become the new Grassy Knoll for conspiracy theorists?
Derivatives
grassy ˈknoller n. a person who believes in the conspiracy theory that a second gunman was involved in the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy (see main sense); (later also in extended use) any conspiracy theorist.
ΚΠ
1982 W. F. Buckley in J. P. Hart When Going was Good! Introd. p. xi The grassy-knollers will explain any missing document, human being, or historical event..as the subtle working of the same conspiracy that labored to assassinate John F. Kennedy.
2000 Weekend Austral. (Nexis) 29 Jan. (Review section) 11 One might think that a mass of technical information about early radio communication, winds, fuel consumption.., runways and weight would be indigestible except for grassy knollers and allied nerds.
2013 Atlantic Online (Nexis) 17 Jan. Nor am I saying we need to distrust everything, diving deeply into the conspiracy-minded rabbit hole of Grassy Knollers, Obama Birthers and..Sandy Hook Truthers.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1966