dud

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English dudde (“a cloak or mantle”),^[2][3][4] a word of unknown origin.^{[4][5][6][7][8]} The Middle English Dictionary thinks it probably goes back to Old English, comparing Old Norse duði and Low German dudel,^[2][9] and Etymonline likewise suspects an unrecorded Old English word.^[9] Dictionary.com takes the Low German word to mean coarse sackcloth.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cloak or mantle, perhaps one of coarse cloth: 1355, in a London plea roll.^[4][2] The plural duddis already appears in Latin accounts of 1307 and 1334–5, but the OED notes that it is unclear whether these show the English word or a Latin borrowing of it;^[4][2] Barnhart takes the 1307 record as the first.^[11]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the Promptorium Parvulorum glossed dudde as a kind of cloth or garment.^[12][2] From the early 16th century, chiefly in Scotland, the plural meant rags or shabby clothes,^[4][11] before becoming a general slang word for clothes and then for one's belongings.^[4][5][9] In Scots a dud was a person in rags, and hence a feeble, spiritless person (1721–1896).^[4][12] From the late 19th century the word was applied to things that were not what they seemed: a counterfeit or a dishonoured cheque (1897), then anything that failed to work, and an ineffectual person (both 1908).^[4][9][11] In the First World War it was used of a shell that failed to explode, which led to the sense of a disappointing failure.^[11][9][8] The OED compares the slightly earlier duff in these senses.^[4] The adjective, worthless or counterfeit, grew out of the noun in 1899.^[4]

Timeline

• 1307 – the plural duddis in a Latin account, perhaps the English word.^[4][2][11]
• 1355 – a cloak or mantle (obsolete).^[4][2]
• 1508 – chiefly Scottish, a rag; in the plural, ragged clothes.^[4][11]
• 1665 – in the plural, personal effects.^[4]
• 1721 – Scottish, a person in rags; hence a feeble, spiritless person.^[4]
• 1897 – a counterfeit; a dishonoured cheque.^[4][9]
• 1899 – adjective, worthless, counterfeit.^[4]
• 1908 – a thing that fails to work; an ineffectual person.^[4][9][11]
• 1919 – a disappointing event or performance.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bomb, shell or other explosive that fails to go off.^[3][13]
2. A person or thing that turns out to be useless or a failure: The new mower was a dud from the first day.^[13][3][4]
3. duds (informal): clothes, or personal belongings.^[3][13][14]

Adjective

1. Not working or failing in its purpose; counterfeit or worthless: a dud battery.^[13][4][14]

Word family

• duddy

Usage notes

A separate dud, a teat or nipple, perhaps imitative, was recorded from 1679 to 1875,^[4] and survived in Lancashire dialect.^[15]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
9. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
11. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
13. ^ a b c d Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
14. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)