dim-bulb
adjEtymology Probably a reference to the use of a light bulb in cartoons and comics to indicate that a person has had a bright idea.
1
Slow-witted, stupid.
- In Snow White [and the Seven Dwarfs], [Walt] Disney and his staff met the challenge of creating believable characters. Each of the seven dwarfs, from sober-sided Doc to dim-bulb Dopey, had a distinct personality.1966 December 23, “Walt Disney: Images of Innocence [obituary]”, in Time, archived from the original on 30 Apr 2009:
- Up to now the guy's just a dim-bulb character who likes to dress up in a sailor suit and spoon creme broolay out of a bowl for a living.1990, Joe Bob Briggs [pseudonym; John Irving Bloom], The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 263:
2 more examples
- Well, long ago, a man named Aesop met a whole bunch of bossy, silly, funny, annoying, dim-bulb people, and he wanted to do something about it. He decided to write stories about these people, and end each story with a lesson […]2007, Chris Jennings Dixon, editor, Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing, Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, →ISBN, page 2:
- It’s harder to care about someone dying when you actively want them to disappear from the screen. And when the film itself proceeds so straightforwardly, and you know that even [Jennifer Love] Hewitt’s dim-bulb boyfriend (Freddie Prinze Jr.) will survive, much of the fun is lost.2017 October 27, Alex McLevy, “Making a Killing: The Brief Life and Bloody Death of the Post-Scream Slasher Revival”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 05 Mar 2018:
- Antonyms
- intelligent
- Related terms
- dim bulb, dimbulb, not the brightest bulb