boob

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English[edit]

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ˈbuːb/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Rhymes: -uːb

Etymology 1[edit]

Clipped form of booby (“fool”). Appeared near the beginning of the twentieth century; more information at booby § Etymology 1.

Noun[edit]

boob (plural boobs)

  1. (informal, derogatory) Idiot, fool.
    • 1914, George Vere Hobart, Boobs, as Seen by John Henry, OCLC 14521032, page 75:
      Not having an ear for music it annoys me to hear the boobs squeal.
    • 2008 April 30, “Cher: I was crazy about Tom Cruise”, in Marie Claire‎[1]:
      He said he felt like such a boob in school and nobody talked to him.
Translations[edit]

Adjective[edit]

boob (not comparable)

  1. (informal, derogatory) Idiotic, foolish.
    • 1971, Robert Beck, The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim, →ISBN, page 220:
      Brother, to survive we must strip our total beings of any boob black bourgeoisie values and creampuff attitudes toward the horror in America which we might have absorbed.

Verb[edit]

boob (third-person singular simple present boobs, present participle boobing, simple past and past participle boobed)

  1. To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.
    • 1969, Colin Watson, The Flaxborough Chronicle, OCLC 26730196, page 250:
      After three hits his cleverness ran out. He boobed.
  2. (informal, intransitive) To make a mistake
    • 1969, “Alchemy”, in The Canadian Forum, volume 49, page 211:
      ...the younger generation will not altogether be grateful for the book in which they are contained — especially when he boobs in calling the Weavers a rock ensemble.

Etymology 2[edit]

Clipped form of booby (“breast”). Appeared from the 20th century; more information at booby § Etymology 2.

Noun[edit]

boob (plural boobs)

  1. (colloquial, slang) A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent human female.
    • 1935, James T. Farrell, Studs Lonigan; A Trilogy, OCLC 1137753551, Judgement Day:
      Tough luck. Too quick in covering to let them see her boobs.
    • 1974, Ernest Brawley, The Rap, page 256:
      Her boob had fallen out of her nightgown and now lay limp against the stained sheet.
    • 2013, Kim Haskan, Mommy Has a Boo Boo in Her Boob, book cover:
      Mommy Has a Boo Boo in Her Boob was written to help families who have been affected by breast cancer.
Derived terms[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Etymology 3[edit]

Apparently shortened from booby-hatch.

Noun[edit]

boob (plural boobs)

  1. (Australia, US) A prison; jail. [from 20th c.]
    • 1927, William Cooper, letter, in Heiss & Minter (eds.), Macquarie PEN Anthology of Aboriginal Literature, Allen & Unwin 2008, p. 26:
      Then he got or was brought back to Mongumber he was tired to a tree and was belted by the white officer in charge put into the boob that they have ther I think of cause we cant say for a certain was was brought out of the boob dead or nearly.

Anagrams[edit]

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