dim-bulb

Probably a reference to the use of a light bulb in cartoons and comics to indicate that a person has had a bright idea.

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈdɪm ˌbʌlb/

• Audio (AU)

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dim-bulb (not comparable)

1. Slow-witted, stupid.

   Synonyms: dim, dim-headed, dim-witted, dumb

   • 1966 December 23, “Walt Disney: Images of Innocence [obituary]”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 30 April 2009:

     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.

   • 1990, Joe Bob Briggs [pseudonym; John Irving Bloom], The Cosmic Wisdom of Joe Bob Briggs, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, page 263:

     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.

   • 2007, Chris Jennings Dixon, editor, Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing, Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, →ISBN, page 2:

     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 […]

   • 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 5 March 2018:

     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.

• See also Thesaurus:stupid

• See Thesaurus:intelligent

• dim bulb, dimbulb (noun)