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dude

Pronunciation: /duːd/

The English word “dude” has 10 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A man, generally a younger man.
  2. A term of address for someone, often but not exclusively a man, particularly when hailing, cautioning them or offering advice.
  3. A tourist.
  4. A birder who has expensive clothing and equipment, but scant knowledge of birds, their fieldmarks, habits, etc.
  5. A man who is very concerned about his dress and appearance; a dandy, a fop.
  6. In the west, a city slicker with scant knowledge of horses, cattle, or frontier survival.

interjection

  1. A term of address, usually for a man, conveying awe, excitement, surprise, annoyance, etc.

verb

  1. To address someone as dude.
  2. To take a vacation in a dude ranch.
  3. Usually followed by up: to dress up, to wear smart or special clothes.

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…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.