Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) the television, implying that TV watchers are less than normally intelligent.

1955		in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dict. (1998).
1959		P. Bull I know Face 193: The rationing period, when my very existence depended on the magic idiot-box [OED].
1965		A. James America’s Homosexual Underground 137: I get tired of the idiot box.
1967–8		Baker et al. CUSS 142: Idiot box [...] Idiot lantern Television.
1969		Guardian Weekly 9 Jan. 8: The very speed of television’s development might have led to some resistance to it, even resentment of it. ‘Gogglebox’ and ‘idiot’s lantern’ are hardly terms of affection and respect.
1975		D. Nobbs Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin (1976) 53: Saw you on the idiot box last week.
1983		New Society 10 Mar. 384/3: Nothing ever appears on tv, only on the ‘goggle box’ or the ‘idiot box in the corner’.
1986		C. Bowles G’DAY 1: Mrs Foster is the old cheese. Her name is Maureen. She spends most of her time watching soapies on the idiot box.
1998		Source Oct. 206: How they looked on the idiot box.
2002		S. Phillips Walkaway (2003) 248: There was an inviting La-Z-Boy [...] and across from it a pretty good sized idiot box.

2. a computer.

2000

www.slayerabyss.tvheaven.com 🌐 idiot box: any type of computer.

a popular hairstyle for girls and young women.

1902		H. Baumann Londinismen (2nd edn).
1923		J. Manchon Le Slang.

1. (US drugs) a mixture of nutmeg and water, used mainly in prisons.

1992

Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 70: Idiot Juice A nutmeg and water combination used in prison as an intoxicant. Idiot juice may also be used to indicate any prison-made alcoholic beverage.

2. any form of spirits.

2005

P. Howard Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nightdress 6: They’s knocking back the old hill-billy idiot juice [i.e. Jack Daniels whiskey].

1. alcohol.

1992		P.J. O’Rourke Give War a Chance (2003) 110: This is the big drug — tonsil polish, idiot oil, vitamin XXX.
2004		Martial Arts Planet 🌐 There’s a reason they call alcohol ‘Idiot Oil.’.

2. a metaphorical ‘liquid’, immersion in which renders one stupid .

2002

www.eyeonsoaps.com 29 Oct. 🌐 I do have to say that with the exception of her time of being dipped in Idiot Oil during the Sonny Years I have always enjoyed Alexis and NLG.

(drugs) barbiturates, any strong sedatives.

1969		R.R. Lingeman Drugs from A to Z (1970).
1981		D.E. Miller Bk of Jargon 338: idiot pills: Barbiturates.
2001		ONDCP Street Terms 12: Idiot pills — Depressants.

(US) a shovel.

1949		(con. 1943–5) A. Murphy To Hell and Back (1950) 117: A shovel [...] An idiot’s spoon, that’s what it is.
1966		‘Tom Pendleton’ Iron Orchard (1967) 13: Start you out with an idiot spoon, likely. In one of the gangs.
1982		Mers & Grieder Ups and Downs of a Rebel Longshoreman 5: Armed with a shovel apiece — the old ‘idiot spoon,’ ‘Mexican dragline,’ the muckstick [etc.].

1. a shovel.

1930		in G. Williams Logger-Talk.
1964		(con. 1920s–40s) in J.L. Kornbluh Rebel Voices.
1981		E. Bunker Little Boy Blue (1995) 158: A shovel was one of the ‘idiot sticks’ of the world.

2. a hoe.

1971–2

C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 207: idiot stick, n. – a hoe.

3. a metaphorical ‘stick’ which, when wielded, confers stupidity upon the victim.

2006

A. D’Gato Heart Is A Lonely Hoedown 47: When did you get bopped on the head with the idiot stick?

4. (US) a manual gearshift.

2017

T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Still can’t believe you drive a car with an idiot stick’.

(US) the television; also attrib.

1968		E. Lockridge Hartspring 64: Not Idiot-tube executives in hours and hours of trying [HDAS].
1976		C. Keane Hunter 99: Instead of watching the idiot tube [...] we should be planning.
2000–01		Modamag.com 🌐 Stories like that were made for the big screen, not the watered down idiot tube we call TV.

(W.I., Bdos) a complete fool.

1990

Nation (Bridgetown) 3 Sept. 6: Any half-idiot should know that the reduction in the quantum of a tax only benefits those paying the particular tax.