blivetn.
/ˈblɪvɪt/ U.S. slang (chiefly jocular).
A pseudo-term for something useless, unnecessary, annoying, etc.; hence, = thingamajig n. (see quots.).
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > uselessness > [noun] > that which is useless > useless person or thing
cumber-worldc1374
cumber-house1541
deaf nut1613
cumber-ground1657
dead duck1844
no good1871
dead wood1877
dead wood1887
blue duck1889
dud1897
cluck1904
non-starter1911
dead loss1927
dreep1927
write-off1935
no-gooder1936
nogoodnik1936
blivet1967
roadkill1990
1967 H. Wentworth & S. B. Flexner Dict. Amer. Slang (new ed.) Suppl. 673/2 Blivit, n., anything unnecessary, confused, or annoying. Lit. defined as ‘10 pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag’. Orig. W.W. II Army use. The word is seldom heard except when the speaker uses it in order to define it; hence the word is actually a joke.
1980 Aviation Week & Space Technol. 15 Sept. 61 Refueling of helicopters..surfaced as an alternative to air dropping fuel blivits.
1981 N.Y. Times 27 Mar. c25/1 The main ingredient of this charm is a facility for saying it before you can, for calling ‘Palm Sunday’ a ‘blivet’ before you can call it a piece of junk.
1981 Sci. Amer. Dec. 28/2 This little book for grade school psychologists and philosophers presents a few dozen of these interesting but less familiar illusions, along with the arrow lengths, outline cubes, Eschers and three-pronged blivits of the standard optical-illusion list.
1982 Industr. Robots Internat. 22 Mar. 8 ‘Single station machines for assembly’, he says, ‘are blivets. Anybody who wants a definition can call me up.’
1983 Washington Post 26 Aug. d1 For such tasks, you obviously need a magic tool that lets you get 10 pounds into a five-pound bag. Such a heaven-sent, makeshift magic part is called a ‘blivit’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1989; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1967