Definition
nounA jerk; an inappropriately or objectionably mean, inconsiderate, contemptible, immoral, obnoxious, intrusive, stupid, or rude person.
Sentence Examples
Holy crap, who's the asshole who dares call me in the middle of the night?!
With all due respect, Mr. President, you are an asshole!
Word Origin & History
Variant of earlier arsehole, from Middle English arshole, arcehoole, equivalent to ass + hole. Cognate with Norwegian rasshøl (“asshole”), Swedish arsle (“asshole”). Compare also German Arschloch (“asshole”). Attested from the 1370s, replacing earlier Old English earsþyrel (“anus”, literally “ass hole”).
First recorded in Middle English, as ers hole (Glouc. Cath. Manuscript 19. No. I., dated 1379, cited after OED), ars-hole (Bodleian Ashmole MS. 1396, dated ca. 1400, ed. Robert Von Fleischhacker as Lanfrank's "Science of Cirurgie", EETS 102, 1894, cited after OED.) Slang figurative usage dates to the 20th century; it was used of an uninviting place (compare shithole) in the 1920s, and then of an anti-social or despicable person from at least the 1950s (Harvard Advocate 137, March 1954). It is also used appositionally (as in "You're an asshole moralist", T. Chamales, 1957).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"She said she couldn't wiggle when she had the doorknob in her asshole."
— 1910, “Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York Third Department”, in Google Books, retrieved 27 Jul 2014:
"'You talk as if you were born without an asshole,' he cried to Commander Semmes."
— 1954, Ira Wolfert, An Act of Love: A Completely Retold Version of the Novel, →OCLC, page 54:
"He philosophised all day about Morandi, Klee, Miró and Picasso, and was such an asshole that he spelled "cunt" with a "d"."
— 1965, Jan Cremer, translated by R. E. Wyngaard and Alexander Trocchi, I, Jan Cremer, →OCLC, page 78:
"She posted her story on Reddit to ask if she was, in fact, the asshole, and the results showed that she was not. […] They are the assholes for thinking they and their little crotch-spawn were special and exempt from the event guidelines."
— 2018 December 22, Ellen Scott, “Is this bride in the wrong for kicking a crying kid out of her wedding?”, in Metro, archived from the original on 22 Sep 2022:
"You oughta have better sense than to trust anyone with anything in this asshole place."
— 1976, Felix Goodson, Sweet Salt, →ISBN, page 254: