badaud

See also: badaûd

English

Etymology

French badaud

Noun

badaud (plural badauds)

1. A person given to idle observation of everything, with wonder or astonishment; a credulous or gossipy idler.
   • Pall Mall Magazine

     a host of stories […] dealing chiefly with the subject of his great wealth, an ever delightful topic to the badauds of Paris.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan badau, from badar, from Medieval Latin badare (“to gape, yawn”), probably ultimately imitative of yawning or gaping. Related to English abash.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.do/

• Audio

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Noun

badaud m (plural badauds)

1. onlooker, bystander, rubbernecker
   • 1879, Émile Zola, chapter XI, in L’Assommoir:

     Des escamoteurs, des hercules arrivaient, qui étalaient sur la terre de l’avenue un tapis mangé d’usure. Alors, les badauds s’attroupaient, un cercle se formait, tandis que le saltimbanque, au milieu, jouait des muscles dans son maillot fané.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1924, Emmanuel Bove, Mes Amis‎^[1]:

     Prêt à fermer les yeux, je me fraye un passage, malgré moi. Aucune exclamation des badauds ne m’échappe : j’essaie de savoir avant de regarder.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Further reading

• “badaud”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.