boob

See also: боов

English

Pronunciation

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

Etymology 1

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

Noun

boob (plural boobs)

(informal, derogatory, Canada, US, dated) An idiot; a fool.
- 1914, George Vere Hobart, Boobs, as Seen by John Henry, →OCLC, page 75:
  Not having an ear for music it annoys me to hear the boobs squeal.
- 1990, “Look At All Those Idiots” (track 9), in The Simpsons Sing The Blues (1990)‎^[1], performed by The Simpsons:
  [BURNS AND ENSEMBLE]: Look at all those idiots. Oh, look at all those boobs. An office full of morons. A factory full of fools. Is it any wonder that I'm singing, singing the blues!?
- 2008 April 30, “Cher: I was crazy about Tom Cruise”, in Marie Claire‎^[2]:
  He said he felt like such a boob in school and nobody talked to him.
(informal, British) A mistake.

Derived terms

Translations

idiot, fool

Bulgarian: глупак (bg) m (glupak)
Finnish: (slang) dorka (fi), (slang) bimbo (fi)
Italian: babbeo (it) m

Verb

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

To behave stupidly; to act like a boob.
- 1969, Colin Watson, The Flaxborough Chronicle, →OCLC, page 250:
  After three hits his cleverness ran out. He boobed.
(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.

Derived terms

boob up

Etymology 2

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

Noun

boob (plural boobs)

(colloquial, slang) A breast, especially that of an adult or adolescent female human.
- 1935, James T. Farrell, Studs Lonigan; A Trilogy, →OCLC, 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.

Synonyms

See Thesaurus:breasts

Derived terms

Translations

breast (colloquial)

Arabic: ثَدْي m (ṯady)
Hijazi Arabic: صَدِر m (ṣadir), ديس m (dēs)
Armenian: ծիծ (hy) (cic)
Belarusian: сі́ська f (sísʹka)
Betawi: tété'
Bulgarian: ци́ца (bg) f (cíca), ци́цка f (cícka)
Catalan: pit (ca) m
Chinese:
Cantonese: 波 (bo¹)

Mandarin: 波波 (zh) (bōbō), 咪咪 (zh) (mīmī)
Czech: cecek (cs) m, koza (cs) f
Danish: babs c
Dutch: tiet (nl) f
Estonian: tiss (et)
Finnish: tissi (fi)
French: nichon (fr) m, lolo (fr) m, loloche (fr) f, néné (fr) m, doudoune (fr) f, boîte à lait f
Galician: teta (gl) f
German: Titte (de) f, Möpse (de) pl (usually plural)
Greek: βυζί (el) n (vyzí)
Hebrew: (colloquial, vulgar) ציצי m (tsítsi)
Hindi: स्तन (hi) m (stan), चूची (hi) f (cūcī)
Hungarian: cici (hu)
Icelandic: tútta f
Indonesian: toket (id), tetek (id), susu (id)
Italian: zizza (it) f, tetta (it) f, zinna (it) f
Japanese: おっぱい (ja) (oppai), ぱいぱい (ja) (paipai), ぱいおつ (paiotsu)
Korean: 젖 (ko) (jeot), 젖통 (ko) (jeot'tong), 슴가 (seumga)
Latin: mamma f
Latvian: pups (lv) m
Lithuanian: papas m
Macedonian: цицка f (cicka)
Norwegian:
Bokmål: pupp m

Nynorsk: pupp m
Old Church Slavonic: сиса
Persian: ممه (fa) (mame)
Polish: cycek (pl) m, balon (pl) m, melon (pl) m
Portuguese: mama (pt) f, maminha (pt) f, peito (pt) m
Russian: си́ська (ru) f (sísʹka), ти́тька (ru) f (títʹka), до́йки (ru) f pl (dójki) (usually plural), буфера́ (ru) m pl (buferá) (usually plural)
Serbo-Croatian:
Cyrillic: сиса f

Roman: sisa (sh)
Slovak: cecok m
Spanish: teta (es) f, macoca (es) f, chichi (es) f (Mexico), tetica f
Swedish: tutt c, tutte (sv) c, patt (sv) c
Tamil: முலை (ta) (mulai)
Turkish: meme (tr), cicik (tr)
Ukrainian: ци́цька (uk) f (cýcʹka)

Etymology 3

Apparently shortened from booby-hatch.

Noun

boob (plural boobs)

(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.
- 1965, Mudrooroo, Wild Cat Falling, HarperCollins, published 2001, page 29:
  I begin to feel homesick for the easy drifting of boob. I guess the fact is I'm afraid of life, haven't got the guts to be a real criminal.

Anagrams

Bo-Bo, Bobo, bobo, obbo

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English boob.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /bub/

Noun

boob f (plural boobs)

(slang, anglicism, chiefly in the plural) breast
- 2014 October 30, Bertrand Ferrier, Le point de vue du panda: Le dico des mots sans dico - Humour, Max Milo, →ISBN:
  « […] Ses premiers francs en poche, Nabilla avait foncé chez le chirurgien pour pimper ses boobs. »
  " […] With her first francs in her pocket, Nabilla had rushed to the surgeon to pimp her boobs."
- 2019 February 6, Margot D. Bortoli, Projet Rebirth, BMR, →ISBN:
  Mes boobs ! je continue de m'époumoner en désignant mes seins. — Ils n'ont jamais vraiment disparu Grace... Je lui lance un regard torve et attrape mon sac et mes dossiers avant de courir vers la sortie.
  "My boobs!" I continue yelling, pointing to my breasts. "They never really disappeared, Grace..." I throw her a menacing look and grab my bag and files before running to the exit.