bald as a coot
Preserved but no longer current.
The coot has a strong, straight, and somewhat conical bill, the base of which tends to push up the forehead, and there dilates, so as to form a remarkable bare patch.
Con coot có mỏ thẳng và mạnh, tạo thành một mảng trần nổi bật
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “bald as a coot” mean?
The coot has a strong, straight, and somewhat conical bill, the base of which tends to push up the forehead, and there dilates, so as to form a remarkable bare patch.
Is “bald as a coot” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.