Q:
A: It literally means "hunter". What screwed it up for the poor word was Bugs Bunny when he would refer to the bumbling hunter, Elmer Fudd. Bugs always called him "nimrod", so everyone took it as a word to make fun of somebody. I actually saw, at an old job of mine, a client with the name Nimrod, and felt sorry for the elderly guy, but he was basically named "hunter" before the word "nimrod" got such a bad rep. So, we all have Warner Brothers & Bugs Bunny to thank for the word contotation.