DUNCE, a stupid person, incapable of learning. "Duns" or "dunsman" was a name applied by their opponents to the Scot ists or followers of Duns Scotus, the great schoolman. When, in the 16th century, the Scotists obstinately opposed the "new learning," the term "duns" or "dunce" became, in the mouths of the humanists and reformers, a term of abuse, a synonym for one incapable of scholarship.