Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several fish-eating diving birds of the genus Gavia of northern regions, having a short tail, webbed feet, and a laughlike cry.
  • noun One who is crazy or deranged.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A stupid fellow; a clown: with various shades of intensity as an opprobrious epithet, like fool, dolt, etc.
  • noun A four-toed diving bird of the genus Colymbus or Urinator. See Colymbidæ.
  • noun A name used locally for several very different birds: in England, for some of the grebes, including the large Podiceps cristatus and the little dabchick, P. minor; by sailors often in the form loom, for the murre, Lomvia arra.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) Any one of several aquatic, wed-footed, northern birds of the genus Urinator (formerly Colymbus), noted for their expertness in diving and swimming under water. The common loon, or great northern diver (Urinator imber, or Colymbus torquatus), and the red-throated loon or diver (Urinator septentrionalis), are the best known species. See diver.
  • noun A sorry fellow; a worthless person; a rogue.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any of various birds, of the order Gaviiformes, of North America and Europe that dive for fish and have a short tail, webbed feet and a yodeling cry.
  • noun idler, lout
  • noun Ulster boy, lad
  • noun harlot; mistress
  • noun simpleton; (also (slang)) crazy or deranged person.
  • noun Ireland English Soldier of an expeditionary army in Ireland.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a worthless lazy fellow
  • noun large somewhat primitive fish-eating diving bird of the northern hemisphere having webbed feet placed far back; related to the grebes
  • noun a person with confused ideas; incapable of serious thought

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Perhaps alteration of dialectal loom, guillemot, diver, from Old Norse lōmr.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Probably from loon (from its loud cry) and influenced by lunatic.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

from Middle English loun

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Examples

  • A sad day for conservatives when this loon is the most influential, anyone who thinks this guy has credability I have no respect for and pity them.

    Poll: Limbaugh most influential conservative, say Americans 2009

  • The word "loon" is supposed to refer to its incapacity, and is from the same root as "lame."

    Janey Canuck in the West Emily Ferguson 1910

  • To be compared to a surgery-addicted, alleged kiddy-fiddling loon is not funny, it is highly offensive .

    IRA Demand BBC Apology over Jacko Jibe Dungeekin 2009

  • So Alan Keyes, while still a loon, is now saner than many prominent Republicans.

    Balloon Juice » Blog Archive » 49IF 2010

  • To be compared to a surgery-addicted, alleged kiddy-fiddling loon is not funny, it is highly offensive .

    Archive 2009-03-01 Dungeekin 2009

  • Ca Native the only loon is you, since you give no specifics, is it looney to follow the US CONSITUTION, try reading the book and stop watching tv, you sound like a brainwashed msm drone.

    Paul No. 1 on Amazon.com 2008

  • The loon is a proud symbol of our great land, much like that other mighty, noble creature, the beaver.

    DOCUMENTARY ROUNDUP 2008

  • What makes HeiGou a genocidal loon is that he thinks it would have been better to kill millions of additional people.

    Matthew Yglesias » Stabbing and Backs 2007

  • I believe the real loon is Chavez but I cannot support what Robertson said.

    Not news « BuzzMachine 2005

  • Cyndi Lauper is frequently described as a loon, and baseball great Darryl Strawberry quit (iced with classic Trump degradation for quitters, of course) in the third week.

    BlogHer - Life Well Said debontherocks 2010

Comments

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  • "Peace, thou crazy loon," cried the Manxman, seizing him by the arm. "Away from the quarter-deck!"

    - Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 125

    July 31, 2008