dunce

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dunce †disciple of Duns Scotus; dull pedant; dullard, blockhead XVI. orig. Duns, name of John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), scholastic theologian, whose disciples formed a predominant scholastic sect at the universities until they were attacked by the humanists and reformers; occurring first in phr. Duns men, Dunces disciples.

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