Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) used of someone who is dull or stupid.

[1821		W.T. Moncrieff Tom and Jerry III i: tom: I say, Bob, did you here anything knock? log: Yes; and nobody at home. jerry: Doctor! I touch’d your knowledge-box there, I think!].
1914		T.A. Dorgan Indoor Sports 21 Feb. [synd. cartoon] |He’s a 33rd degree simp! Nobody home. Nobody home .
1915		S. Ford Torchy, Private Sec. 130: That’s Ruby. Nobody home, and the front door left open.
1919		Sun. Times (Perth) 9 Mar. 7/4: Another very effective way he has of quelling the troublesome one is to tap the head while saying very solemnly [...] ‘There’s nobody home,’ or ‘Apartments to let’.
1927		Eve. Teleg. (Dundee) 8 Sept. 3/2: There ain’t nobody at home in his dome.
1929		J.T. Farrell ‘Calico Shoes’ in Fellow Countrymen (1937) 28: Stella, you loony, cra-azy [...] Ha! Nobody home upstairs and rooms for rent ... Ha.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl. 34: nobody home – without sense; thoughtless; a blank.
1974		G.V. Higgins Cogan’s Trade (1975) 81: ‘He don’t answer,’ Barry said. ‘Must be there’s nobody home or something,’ Steve said.
1988		McGill Dict. of Kiwi Sl. 76/2: nobody home not concentrating; a vacant mind; eg ‘I asked him why he did it, but I might as well have saved my breath, there’s nobody home.’.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 370: Goldman scratched his balls. He smiled, low voltage, nobody home.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. [as cit. 1988].
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 133: I’m tryna get her to understand what I’m talkin bout an she like Nobody home.