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)

1. (informal, derogatory, Canada, US) 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”, 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.

2. (informal, Britain) A mistake.

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)

1. 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.

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

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

Noun

boob (plural boobs)

1. (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

• bewb
• big-boob
• big boob
• boob-sling
• boob augmentation
• boob cancer
• boob envy
• boob implant
• boob job
• boob juice
• boobless
• boob milk
• boob reduction
• boob tube
• boob window
• free-boob
• man boob, man-boob, manboob
• moob
• side-boob
• sideboob
• side boob
• underboob

 

Translations

breast (colloquial)

• Arabic: ثَدْي‎ m (ṯady)

  Hijazi Arabic: صَدِر‎ m (ṣadir), ديس‎ m (dēs)

• Armenian: ծիծ (hy) (cic)
• Belarusian: сі́ська f (sísʹka)
• Betawi: tokét
• Bulgarian: ци́ца (bg) f (cíca), ци́цка f (cícka)
• Catalan: pit (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 波波 (zh) (bōbō), 咪咪 (zh) (mīmī)

  Cantonese: 波 (bo¹)

• 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)
• Hungarian: cici (hu)
• Indonesian: toket, 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 (paipai), ぱいおつ (paiotsu)
• Korean: 젖 (ko) (jeot), 젖통 (ko) (jeot'tong), 슴가 (seumga)
• Latvian: pups (lv) m
• Lithuanian: papas m
• Macedonian: цицка f (cicka)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: pupp m

  Nynorsk: pupp m

• 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
• Turkish: meme (tr), cicik (tr)
• Ukrainian: ци́цька (uk) f (cýcʹka)

Etymology 3

Apparently shortened from booby-hatch.

Noun

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.

   • 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)

1. (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.