cavemann.
/ˈkeɪvman/, U.S. /ˈkeɪvˌmæn/ 1. A person who lives in a cave. Somewhat rare in general sense.Occasionally (as in quots. 1706, 1911) spec. with reference to the inhabitants of the imaginary cave discussed by Plato in Republic VII. (see Plato's cave n.).
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant by type of accommodation > [noun] > cave-dweller
troglodyte1555
troglodytan1607
subterranean1631
caveman1706
cave-dweller1865
trog1965
1706 R. Brocklesby Explic. Gospel-theism ii. v. 246/1 The World's admirers and lovers, that are deluded by Shadows (at the rate of Plato's Cave-men).
1860 C. S. Forbes Iceland viii. 153 The peasants..were driven to their wit's end to know how to get rid of the Cave-men, but were afraid to attack them openly.
1911 Independent (N.Y.) 4 May 940/2 Maeterlinck's purpose is to make Plato's cave men aware of the drama that is being enacted behind their backs.
2009 Herald Sun (Nexis) 31 July 38 (headline) Police capture cave man.
2.
a. A prehistoric human who lived in caves; (more generally) any prehistoric human.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > protohuman > [noun]
anthropolite1778
Neanderthal man1861
caveman1862
man1863
prehistoric man1863
Pithecanthropus1873
Java man1895
Homo erectus1904
Heidelberg1909
Eoanthropus1912
dawn man1913
Neanderthaler1913
Piltdown man1913
Aurignacian1915
Neanderthalian1920
Rhodesian man1921
Boskopoid1926
Peking man1926
Sinanthropus1927
Piltdown1931
Predmostian1931
Minnesota Man1932
Neanderthaloid1934
Steinheim1935
Gigantopithecus1936
Africanthropus1938
Paranthropus1938
Piltdowner1941
Meganthropus1942
Telanthropus1949
Saldanha Man1953
pithecanthropine1955
Nutcracker Man1959
Homo habilis1964
iceman1972
society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabitant > inhabitant by type of accommodation > [noun] > cave-dweller > prehistoric
caveman1862
troglodyte1863
1862 Nat. Hist. Rev. July 267 Are we justified in concluding that even the cave men were the earliest human settlers in Western Europe?
1885 Science June 459/2 In the drawings of the cave-men of France..the proportion of left-hand drawings is greatly in excess of what would now be found.
1926 Westm. Gaz. 7 Aug. The devotion of the modern girl to the ‘cave man’ of fiction.
1991 P. Slater Dream Deferred i. iii. 32 The beefy caveman of cartoon fame, with the scraggly hair and the shillelagh, might make an excellent soldier, but he couldn't catch his dinner if he fell over it.
2010 Guardian 25 Mar. (G2 section) 25/2 A great documentary about the history of bread, from cavemen pounding grains with rocks, to sun-dried tomato ciabatta.
b. A man considered as resembling a caveman (sense 2a), esp. in being ill-mannered, uncivilized, unkempt, physically rough or violent, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > bad behaviour > [noun] > unmannerliness > unrefined manners or behaviour > person
bearc1395
carter1509
kensy?a1513
clumpertonc1534
club1542
lout1548
clinchpoop1555
clout-shoe1563
loose-breech1575
clown1583
hoyden1593
boor1598
kill-courtesy1600
rustic1600
clunch1602
loblolly1604
camel1609
clusterfist1611
loon1619
Grobian1621
rough diamonda1625
hoyde1636
clodhopper1699
roughhead1726
indelicate1741
vulgarian1809
snob1838
vulgarist1847
yahoo1861
cave-dweller1865
polisson1866
mucker1884
caveman1907
wampus1912
yobbo1922
yenta1923
yob1927
rude1946
cafone1949
no-neck1961
ocker1971
1907 N.Y. Times 12 May 6/6 ‘He is a cave man,’ said one from Ohio, asked to sum up [the Cincinnati politician George B.] Cox.
1910 Call (San Francisco) 25 Mar. 11/5 Though he makes a gallant effort to defeat Langford the superior skill of the cave man easily offsets the aggressiveness of the fighting fireman.
1928 A. Huxley Point Counter Point xxi. 405 ‘That passionateness of his, that violence ——.’ Philip laughed. ‘Quite the irresistible cave-man.’
2003 Daily Mirror 29 Jan. 27/4 Finally, the pair sat down for crisis talks as the self-confessed caveman revealed his frustration.
2015 B. Stanley Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! (U.S. ed.) x. 81 They had expected a grunting dullard, a rock 'n' roll caveman—that was how modern pop was regarded outside of coffee bars and school playgrounds in 1962—but instead got a softly spoken charmer who had read The Catcher in the Rye.
3. A person who explores caves; = caver n. 2. Somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > potholing and caving > [noun] > participant
potholer1900
caveman1932
caver1932
spelunker1942
trog1955
1932 E. A. Baker Caving i. 3 The caveman must be prepared physically and mentally for any emergency.
1971 Daily Tel. 1 May 11/4 Speleologists (or cavemen) should explore the Dove's Nest in Borrowdale.
2017 Waikato Times (Hamilton, N.Z.) (Nexis) 8 Aug. 3 The biggest thing for a caveman like me is going from using flame on acetylene lamps to navigate through the caves to using the super LED technology we have now.
Compounds
General use as a modifier (in sense 2).
ΚΠ
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. x. 208 These pots have a cave-man look about them; they are unglazed unlidded bowls.
1911 Call (San Francisco) 19 Aug. 13/6 Man wants to pursue... That is a part of the cave man nature that is still left in any man worth the name.
1986 Washington Post 17 Feb. c7/1 The people..clomp through the man-eating plants carrying cave-man clubs and wearing helmets.
2004 Time Out N.Y. 26 Aug. 89/3 It's been 30 years since four guys from Queens played their pitch-perfect caveman rock for the disaffected at 315 Bowery.
Derivatives
ˈcavemanlike adj.
ΚΠ
1918 N. H. Barragar War Lect. Spirit World iii. 28 The brutal and caveman-like practices of the Germans in their warfare through Belgium, France, Poland and Serbia.
2005 J. Fredston Snowstruck iv. 118 He heard his friend grunting. It was an ugghhh-ugghhh-ugghhh cavemanlike sound that suggested stress, if not pain.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2021).
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n.1706