herbert

A working-class youth, especially male.

Noun

  1. A working-class youth, especially male.
    • It was the Ulster Annual Jamboree. For weeks past, hundreds of spotty-faced herberts, with yodelling voices and chin fuzz, had tied three million knots, started ten thousand twig fires, and completed six hundred leaf...
    • […] everything was busy now with the usual mix of herberts, and because this was Brunel University there was a lot of students, the sort who wouldn't normally go see a punk band […] - 2000, John King, Human punk:
    • Because of my appearance, I was accosted by a couple of spotty herberts on the way […] - 2007, Bobby Smith, Margaret Oshindele-Smith, One Love Two Colours:
  2. A foolish or contemptible person, especially male.
    • For quotations using this term, see Citations:herbert.

Origin

* (working-class youth): From the name Herbert. The term was popularised by the punk movement but predates it.

Forms

herberts