Id"i*ot (ĭd"ĭ*ŏt),
n. [F. idiot, L. idiota an
uneducated, ignorant, ill-informed person, Gr. 'idiw`ths,
also and orig., a private person, not holding public office, fr.
'i`dios proper, peculiar. See Idiom.]
1. A man in private station, as distinguished
from one holding a public office. [Obs.]
St. Austin affirmed that the plain places of Scripture
are sufficient to all laics, and all idiots or private
persons.
Jer. Taylor.
2. An unlearned, ignorant, or simple person,
as distinguished from the educated; an ignoramus. [Obs.]
Christ was received of idiots, of the vulgar
people, and of the simpler sort, while he was rejected, despised, and
persecuted even to death by the high priests, lawyers, scribes,
doctors, and rabbis.
C. Blount.
3. A human being destitute of the ordinary
intellectual powers, whether congenital, developmental, or
accidental; commonly, a person without understanding from birth; a
natural fool; a natural; an innocent.
Life . . . is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Shak.
4. A fool; a simpleton; -- a term of
reproach.
Weenest thou make an idiot of our
dame?
Chaucer.