dunce

views updated

dunce a foolish or ignorant person; originally an epithet for a follower of John Duns Scotus, whose adherents were ridiculed by 16th-century humanists and reformers as enemies of learning.
dunce's cap a paper cone formerly put on the head of a dunce at school as a mark of disgrace; the expression is recorded from the mid 19th century.

More From encyclopedia.com