fubsy

English

WOTD – 2 January 2009

Etymology

fubs (variant of fub) +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfʌb.sɪ/

  • Audio (Southern England)

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Adjective

fubsy (comparative fubsier, superlative fubsiest)

1. (British) short and stout; low and wide
   • 1780, Madame d'Arblay, diary entry - May 1780:

     A fubsy, good-humoured, laughing, silly […] old maid.

   • 1833, anonymous author, Frank Orby, page 11:

     “Pray,” said Doctor Waldron, addressing Mrs. Green, “who is that little fubsy lady, with scarce a morsel of neck, and all covered with ribbands, pursued by that long ghost of a man in the Spanish dress?”

   • 1837, Frederick Marryat, Snarleyyow, or, the Dog Fiend:

     […] seated upon the widow's little fubsy sofa […]

   • 1969, Vladimir Nabokov, Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle:

     He knew she was nothing but a fubsy pig-pink whorelet and would elbow her face away when she attempted to kiss him after he had finished […]

Translations

short and stout; low and wide

• Bulgarian: дундест (bg) (dundest), тантурест (bg) (tanturest)
• Polish: przysadzisty m
• Ukrainian: присадкуватий m (prysadkuvatyj)