dork

First use appears in the US c. 1961. The sense of a "silly person" is presumably from earlier use as a bowdlerization of dick (“penis”) in student slang, particularly the Midwest.^[1][2][3][4] Despite a common misconception, it has never referred specifically to a whale's penis, but penises in general. Alternative etymology derives from dialectal Norwegian dorg (“a mass; heap; a heavy, dimwitted, slovenly person”).

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɔːk/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /doɹk/
• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /doːk/

  • Audio (Queensland):

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• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)k

dork (plural dorks)

1. (derogatory, slang) A quirky, silly or stupid, socially inept person, or one who is out of touch with contemporary trends and typically has unfashionable hobbies. (Overlaps conceptually with nerd and geek, but does not imply the same level of intelligence.) [from the 20th c.] synonyms ▲quotations ▼

   Synonyms: dirk; see also Thesaurus:dork

   • 1962, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Last year at Marienbad, page 167:

     I entitled the piece "Dorky", dork being slang for a person who does not belong to popular groups, usually an outsider, an odd person, sometimes inept, other times cranky.

   • 1967, Don Moser and Jerry Cohen, The Pied Piper of Tucson:^[1][4]

     I didn’t have any clothes and I had short hair and looked like a dork. Girls wouldn’t go out with me.

2. (vulgar, slang) The penis. [from the 20th c.] synonyms ▲quotations ▼

   Synonyms: dirk; see also Thesaurus:penis

   • 1962, Jerome Weidman, The Sound of Bow Bells, page 362:

     As a matter of fact, this slob was full of information today. He told me why we Jews have different dorks.

   • 1986, Stephen King, It:

     "You’re dead, Trashmouth," Vince “Boogers” Taliendo told him, pulling his jock up over a dork roughly the size and shape of an anemic peanut.

   • 2005, Mike Judge, Reading Sucks: The Collected Works of Beavis and Butthead:

     "There's that dork whose wife cut off his dork." And when people ask him for an autograph he writes, "Best of luck to Betsy. Signed, the guy whose wife cut off his penis."

• Narrowly used to indicate someone inept or out of touch, broadly used to mean simply “silly, foolish”; compare doofus, twit.

• dweeb

dork (third-person singular simple present dorks, present participle dorking, simple past and past participle dorked)

1. (intransitive, slang, uncommon) To act or behave in the manner of a dork.
2. (intransitive, slang, uncommon) To act or behave in an awkward or clumsy manner. quotations ▼
   • 2001 December 3, Jack Price, “Re: Anybody @home?”, in pdx.computing‎^[1] (Usenet):

     I spent all weekend dorking with the router settings with no luck, though I could get any one out of my 5 PCs on the net when connected directly to the modem.

Uncertain; apparently from Scots. See dirk.

dork (plural dorks)

1. (archaic) Alternative form of dirk (“a long dagger”).

• K-Rod