rubberneck
Noun
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Noun
rubberneck (plural rubbernecks)
- Someone who engages in rubbernecking, or turning and staring.
- Synonyms: rubbernecker
- 1951, J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 17:
- We must have looked gorgeous. And what made it worse, there was at least a hundred rubbernecks that didn't have anything better to do than stand around and watch everyone falling all over themselves.
- (US, obsolete) A tourist.
- Someone or something with a flexible neck.
- 1912, Edward C. Wood, Electrically Operated Bell for Submarine Signaling , US Patent 1186961, line 57:
- "A suitable washer B1 and rubberneck B2, both of well known description, are provided to form with clapper arm B3 a watertight joint..."
- 1972, Can Themba, The Will to Die ,page 59:
- "Hi, rubberneck'!' -- he clutched at her pear-like breast jutting from her sweater — 'how long did you think you'll duck me?'"
- 1912, Edward C. Wood, Electrically Operated Bell for Submarine Signaling , US Patent 1186961, line 57:
- French: badaud
- German: Gaffer, Gafferin, Schaulustiger
- Italian: ficcanaso, curioso, impiccione
- Russian: зева́ка
- Spanish: mirón
rubberneck (rubbernecks, present participle rubbernecking; past and past participle rubbernecked)
- To watch by craning the neck (as though it were made of rubber), especially if the observer and observed are in motion relative to each other.
- The driver was so busy rubbernecking, trying to get a good view of the accident, that he was almost part of another accident.
- French: faire le badaud
- German: gaffen, sich den Hals verrenken
- Russian: глазе́ть
- Spanish: (Chile) sapear, mirar
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004