lidderon

English

Etymology

From Middle English lidrone, from lidder, lither (“bad, wicked, false”), from Old English lȳþre (“bad, wicked, base, mean, corrupt, wretched”), from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“neglected, dissolute, useless, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“slack, limp”). More at lither.

Noun

lidderon (plural lidderons)

1. (rare, archaic, dialectal) One who is lazy, idle, or bad; rascal; scoundrel; a weakling.
   • c. 14th–15th century, "The York Realist" (real name unknown), “Trial Before Herod”, in The York Mystery Plays, York; republished as “The Litsters: Christ Before Herod”, in Richard Beadle, Pamela M. King, editors, York Mystery Plays: A Selection in Modern Spelling, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, →ISBN, lines 167–168:

     I leve we shall laugh and have liking / To see how this lidderon here he ledges our laws.

   • c. 1515–1516, published 1568, John Skelton, Againſt venemous tongues enpoyſoned with ſclaunder and falſe detractions &c.:

     My ſcoles are not for unthriftes untaught,
     For frantick faitours half mad and half ſtraught;
     But my learning is of another degree
     To taunt theim like liddrons, lewde as thei bee.

Synonyms

• (one who is lazy): goldbricker, slacker; see also Thesaurus:idler
• (rascal, scoundrel): knave, rapscallion; see also Thesaurus:villain
• (weakling): losel, nonce; see also Thesaurus:worthless person