Tudor & Stuart · insult · noun
Clodpate
KLOD-payt /ˈklɒdpeɪt/pronunciation reconstructed — no period source gives it
First recorded1636
A thickhead, a dull, heavy-witted person, often a country bumpkin: a head ('pate') no better than a clod of earth.
Where it was first recorded
Thomas Randolph, verses in Annalia Dubrensia (1636), per the New English Dictionary.
Also spelled: clod-pate, clotpate
In its own time
Their Clodpate Off-spring scarce are bred to Read.
Today
Modern exampleOnly a clodpate would try to mow the lawn in the rain.
Fine to use as a comic, old-fashioned insult; avoid the 'country bumpkin' edge if it would sneer at rural people.
Questions
What does clodpate mean?
A thickhead, a dull, heavy-witted person, often a country bumpkin: a head ('pate') no better than a clod of earth.
When was clodpate first used?
It is first recorded 1636 — Thomas Randolph, verses in Annalia Dubrensia (1636), per the New English Dictionary.
Can you still use clodpate today?
Fine to use as a comic, old-fashioned insult; avoid the 'country bumpkin' edge if it would sneer at rural people.
Sources
- Clod-pate — Murray's New English Dictionary (OED1), via WEHD
- clodpate, n. — Green's Dictionary of Slang (Jonathon Green)
- clodpate — Merriam-Webster
- Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1811 ed.) — Francis Grose (Project Gutenberg #5402)
- clodpate — Wiktionary
Checked 2026-09-30 · verdict: attested — found in the dictionaries and texts listed above