Standard Lemma guide

lubber

noun · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˈlʌbə(ɹ)/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: L AH1 B ER0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A clumsy or lazy person.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: archaic

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: alcatote, auf, botcher, bumbler, bungler, blunderer, blunderhead, butterfingers, chucklehead, clodhopper, dauber, duffer, dumbshit, fuckup, fumblefingers, fumbler, galoot, gaum, gawk, gobaloon, goon, gype, trapes, klutz, lomperd, looby, lubber, lummox, lumpkin, maladroit, mess-up, messup, muff, oaf, palooka, peabrain, pisher, sad sack, schlemiel, schmuck, screwup, shit bird, slangrill, spaz, stumblebum, turkey, weapon, yutz

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

An inexperienced or novice sailor; a landlubber.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Topics: nautical, transport

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

An eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera).

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: Southern-US

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

Alteration of rubber.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: South-Asia

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

an inexperienced sailor; a sailor on the first voyage

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: landlubber, landsman

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: novice, beginner, tyro, tiro, initiate

6

noun

Meaning 6

an awkward stupid person

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: lout, clod, stumblebum, goon, oaf, lummox, lump, gawk

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: clumsy person

History

Etymology

From Middle English, perhaps from Old French lobeor (“swindler”), or of Scandinavian origin, compare dialectal Swedish lubber. The grasshopper was likely so called after sense 1 (“a clumsy or lazy person”).