anorak
/ˈanərak
/noun
1A waterproof jacket, typically with a hood, of a kind originally used in polar regions.A fine drizzle had developed, so I wore my waterproof anorak and pulled the hood up to keep from getting too wet....
- Particularly important are a windproof jacket, or anorak, with hood or hat and a stout pair of walking boots or shoes as they may have to cross some rough ground to see the best wildlife.
- As my sister distracted the guards, I pulled up the hood from my anorak and quickly disappeared into the large crowd.
2British informal, derogatory A studious or obsessive person with unfashionable and largely solitary interests: with his thick specs, shabby shoes, and grey suit, he looks a bit of an anorak...
- I'm a bit of a comedy anorak really.
- My children think I'm a bit of an anorak, but I enjoy it.
- He's a bit of an anorak, but he's got some nice ideas.
Derivatives
anoraked
- Spotted on Piccadilly: even geekier than a business man on a Segway, an anoraked man wearing a bicycle helmet.
- Tall, with long, Sixties-style hair and trendy dark shirts, he does not conform to the public stereotype of the anoraked maths professor.
- The hotel is in the thick of Inverness's scenic riverside bed and breakfast land, inhabited by bemused Dutch camper van drivers and anoraked American tourists struggling with umbrellas.
anorakish
- He was given the job of collecting membership subs and within six years, as he sat his Edinburgh University finals, this anorakish young politico was emerging through the smoke of battle to become national secretary.
- I guess many of us are secretive about pastimes, hiding interests from friends, colleagues and neighbours for the fear of being perceived as anorakish or odd.
- While most folk could send you to sleep reciting their anorakish knowledge of grapes and wine, chances are they've drunk a thousand beers but wouldn't know a handful of hops from a bunch of Brussels sprouts.
anoraky
- I have, in reserve, at least a couple of techie anoraky posts on various types of gadgetry currently piquing my interest, at least 2 of which are direct alternatives to iPods.
- In the 1980s, Stewart's image was a bit anoraky.
- To a lot of people, it still has that weird image of anoraky bores or, even worse, the manic twitchers, the rarity chasers.
Origin
1920s: from Greenlandic anoraq. The British English informal sense dates from the 1980s and derives from the anoraks worn by trainspotters, regarded as typifying this kind of person.
The anorak comes from Greenland, where the Inupiaq language of the Inuit gave us the word for a hooded waterproof jacket. The shabby anoraks traditionally worn by trainspotters and others with unfashionable preoccupations led to such people being known as anoraks from the early 1980s.