tenderfoot

noun

Etymology

From tender + foot. Refers to the delicate feet of newcomers to ranching or mining areas. First attested 1866.

  1. inherited from *pṓds
  2. inherited from *fōts
  3. inherited from *fōt
  4. inherited from fōt
  5. inherited from fot
  6. compounded as tenderfoot — “tender + foot

Definitions

  1. An inexperienced person

    An inexperienced person; a novice.

  2. A newcomer or arriviste to the region in the American frontier (Old West and Wild West).

    • Watson had risen so hurriedly that he had not been careful about his “tarp” and water had run into his bed. But that wouldn’t disconcert anybody but a tenderfoot.
    • "Lavender Cowboy," a pseudo folk song, is a tale of futility. It tells of a tenderfoot "with only two hairs on his chest," whose heroic attempt to prove his manhood results in his death.
  3. A Boy Scout of the lowest rank.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for tenderfoot. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA