Definitions

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

  • noun An inept, foolish, or contemptible person.

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

  • noun pejorative, slang A stupid or contemptible person.
  • noun uncountable A card game, the aim of which is to lose one's cards

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

  • noun a stupid person; these words are used to express a low opinion of someone's intelligence

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

shit +‎ head

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Examples

  • “Gentlemen,” said Skinny, “I want the record to show I have never in my life been called a shithead, not since I was a young boy.”

    Closing Time Joseph Heller 1994

  • Although Lindh was seriously wounded, starving, freezing, and exhausted, U.S. soldiers blindfolded and handcuffed him naked, scrawled "shithead" across the blindfold, duct-taped him to a stretcher for days in an unheated and unlit shipping container, threatened him with death, and posed with him for pictures.

    Why the Silence on Real Torture Timeline? 2008

  • Reportedly, during a Senate Republican luncheon, when a colleague demanded an apology because McCain had called him a "shithead," McCain responded: "I apologize, but you're still a shithead."

    Win McCormack: McCain Wants to Be President: Those Who Know Him Best Express Alarm 2008

  • Apparently, in their world, calling Mr. Sidarth a "shithead" is somehow acceptable.

    08/16/2006 2006

  • The Family Ties star and manic blogger is calling people "shithead" and "human waste" for spamming her Twitter homepage, unaware she's seeing a new feature announced over a month ago.

    Gawker 2009

  • Victim, i was on your side until you called Marcuse a 'shithead' ... surely as a self-proclaimed 'Marxist' you can see the worth in many of the Gramscian concepts presented in one-dimensional man?

    Punknews.org 2009

  • I was ruder than I should have been with the "shithead" comment.

    BeaucoupKevin(dot)com 2009

  • The Family Ties star and manic blogger is calling people "shithead" and "human waste" for spamming her Twitter homepage, unaware she's seeing a new feature announced over a month ago.

    Gawker: Defamer 2009

  • • Hoder: A strong majority of this 'shithead' have chosen this man to run their country.

    Editor: Myself (English) 2008

  • • Hoder: A strong majority of this 'shithead' have chosen this man to run their country.

    Editor: Myself (English) 2008

Comments

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  • Sometimes when I see this word, it looks like "shih--theed." I hate when my brain does that.

    October 30, 2007

  • Have you read Freakonomics? In his chapter on Perfect Parenting (naming of children, among other things), Levitt refers to an individual born in California with the given name "Shithead." It was supposed to be pronounced "shu - TEED." I suspect it usually wasn't.

    October 30, 2007

  • You reminded me of a Snopes page (warning: offensive racial language) about unfortunate-baby-name urban legends. This one is included there, along with the famous Latrine and Pajama. Also mentioned is Ima Hogg, recently discussed here.

    October 30, 2007

  • A couple of decades ago I was infamous for my headgear collection. My least liked hat was plastic replica turds on top of a baseball cap with the word shithead on. I can't believe I told you that.

    January 29, 2008

  • WE love it when you share, gangerh.... :-)

    January 29, 2008

  • Ours is that thriving company noted for

    caps (worn by prankster drolls) on the peaks of which,

        gleaming, repose the simulacra,

           sculpted in plastic, of great big dog turds.

        Thus are we designated: Shitheads.

    - Peter Reading, Shitheads.

    January 29, 2008