adj. (American).—Stupid. [The term though only dialectical in England is pretty general in U.S.A. It is given by Murray as a variant of CHOLTER-HEADED, which in turn is another form for jolt or JOLTER-HEADED. Chowder is properly a kind of hotch-potch, and applied to the intellectuals would imply ‘confusedness,’ and hence idiocy.]
1819. SCOTT, Letter, 15 April, in Lockhart. I hesitate a little about Raeburn … [he] has twice already made a very CHOWDER-HEADED person of me.
1851. HERMAN MELVILLE, Moby Dick, xv., 73. What’s that stultifying saying about CHOWDER-HEADED people? [M.]
18[?]. S. L. CLEMENS (‘Mark Twain’), Launch of the Steamer ‘Capital.’ The Showman … grabbed the orchestra and shook him up, and says, ‘That lets you out, you CHOWDER-HEADED old clam.’
