quiz kid

• Quiz Kid

quiz kid (plural quiz kids)

1. (hyphenated when used attributively) A very intelligent or accomplished child or young person, especially one who demonstrated his or her knowledge and quick thinking on radio or television programs in the mid-20th century.
   • 1999 May 29, Tom Vallance, "Obituary: Vanessa Brown," The Independent (UK) (retrieved 9 July 2014):

     Brown recalled:

     I went up to read for her, and this forbidding lady said, "You think you're smart, you Quiz Kid you! What did Shakespeare mean by the phrase, bearded like the pard?" And I said, "Leopard, bearded like the leopard". It was a guess, a wild guess. And she said, "By golly, yes! You are smart!"

   • 2004 Oct. 15, David Ignatius, "Real, Enlightening TV," Washington Post (retrieved 9 July 2014):

     Through the next two debates, Kerry never lost that quiz-kid sharpness. He seemed to have an answer for everything.

   • 2007 March 1, Douglas Martin, "Arthur Schlesinger, historian of U.S. power, dies," New York Times (retrieved 9 July 2014):

     Schlesinger never stopped seeming like the brightest student in class, "the eternal Quiz Kid," in Time magazine's phrase.

• See also Thesaurus:child prodigy

• whiz kid