Any of various aquatic birds of the genus Fulica that are mainly black with a prominent frontal shield on the forehead.
(colloquial) A stupid fellow; a simpletonA silly coot.
An old coot
A rich coot
1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, “You'll be able now to give it as your considered opinion that Cream is as loony as a coot, Sir Roderick.†A pause ensued during which psychiatrist appeared to be weighing this, possibly thinking back to coots he had met in the course of his professional career and trying to estimate their dippiness as compared with that of W. Cream.
