Booby

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -uːbi

17th Century. Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus ("stammering").

Full definition of booby

Noun

1. A stupid person.
2. (by extension) Any of various large tropical seabirds from the genera Sula and Papasula in the gannet family Sulidae, traditionally considered to be stupid.
• 1638 Herbert, Sir Thomas Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and AfriqueAt which time, Å¿ome Boobyes, weary of flight, made our Ship their pearch, an animall Å¿o Å¿imple as Å¿uffers any to take her without feare, as if a Å¿tupid Å¿enÅ¿e made her careleÅ¿Å¿e of danger...

Synonyms

• sulid

Derived terms

• Abbott's booby, Papasula abbotti
• blue-footed booby, Sula nebouxii
• brown booby, Sula leucogaster
• masked booby, Sula dactylatra
• Nazca booby, Sula granti
• Peruvian booby, Sula variegata
• red-footed booby, Sula sula
• Tasman booby,
• booby trap

Variant of the earlier bubby. The shortened term boob is a further development from this.

Noun

1. (slang) a woman’s breast
• 1934 Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer (novel)At ten o’clock she was lying on the divan with her boobies in her hands.

Anagrams

• yobbo