AIRHEAD NOUN (PEOPLE AND SOCIETY)

In North American slang, a stupid person; someone who speaks or acts unintelligently. Etymology: Formed by compounding: someone whose head is full of air; perhaps influenced by the earlier form bubblehead (which goes back to the fifties). History and Usage: Airhead has been a favourite American and Canadian term of abuse since the beginning of the eighties, used especially for the unintelligent but attractive type of woman that the British call a bimbo. At first airhead was associated with teenage Valspeak, but it soon spread into more general use among all age-groups. Although very common in US English by the mid eighties, airhead did not start to catch on in the UK or Australia until the end of the decade. His comedies of manners are very funny, and the vain airheads who populate his novels are wonderfully drawn. Christian Science Monitor 2 Mar. 1984, section B, p. 12 Mature women...left the airheads to be abused by the stuffy, bossy older men and wore shorter skirts than their teenage daughters. Indy 21 Dec. 1989, p. 7