Adjacent Words

Booby definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BOO'BY, n.
1. A dunce; a stupid fellow; a lubber; one void of wisdom, or intellect.
2. A fowl of the pelican genus, of a brown and white color, much varied in different individuals. This fowl is found among the Bahama isles, feeds upon fish and lays its eggs on the bare rocks. It has a joint in the upper mandible, by which it can raise it without opening the mouth.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an ignorant or foolish person [syn: dumbbell, dummy, dope, boob, booby, pinhead]
2: small tropical gannet having a bright bill or bright feet or both

Merriam Webster's

I. noun (plural boobies) Etymology: modification of Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus stammering, probably of imitative origin Date: 1602 1. an awkward foolish person ; dope 2. any of several tropical seabirds (genus Sula) of the gannet family II. noun (plural boobies) Etymology: alteration of bubby Date: 1916 sometimes vulgar breast

Britannica Concise

Any of six or seven species of large tropical seabirds (family Sulidae), named for their presumed lack of intelligence. Two common species are wide-ranging in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian oceans; another is found in the Pacific from S California to N Peru and on the Galá pagos Islands. The booby has a long bill, cigar-shaped body, and long, narrow, angular wings. It flies high above the ocean looking for schools of fish and squid, which it snatches in a vertical dive. Boobies vary in length from 25 to 35 in. (65-85 cm). They nest in colonies but are territorial.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (pl. -ies) 1 a stupid or childish person. 2 a small gannet of the genus Sula. Phrases and idioms: booby-hatch esp. US sl. a mental hospital. booby prize a prize given to the least successful competitor in any contest. booby trap 1 a trap intended as a practical joke, e.g. an object placed on top of a door ajar. 2 Mil. an apparently harmless explosive device intended to kill or injure anyone touching it. booby-trap v.tr. place a booby trap or traps in or on. Etymology: prob. f. Sp. bobo (in both senses) f. L balbus stammering

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Booby Boo"by (b[=oo]"b[y^]), n.; pl. Boobies (-b[i^]z). [Sp. bobo dunce, idiot; cf. L. balbus stammering, E. barbarous.] 1. A dunce; a stupid fellow. 2. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A swimming bird (Sula fiber or S. sula) related to the common gannet, and found in the West Indies, nesting on the bare rocks. It is so called on account of its apparent stupidity. The name is also sometimes applied to other species of gannets; as, S. piscator, the red-footed booby. (b) A species of penguin of the antarctic seas.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Booby Boo"by (b[=oo]"b[y^]), a. Having the characteristics of a booby; stupid.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Simpleton, fool. See dunce. 2. (Ornith.) Gannet, noddy, solan, goose (Sula bassana or fusca).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

or DOG BOOBY. An awkward lout, clodhopper, or country fellow. See CLODHOPPER and LOUT. A bitch booby; a country wench.

Moby Thesaurus

also-ran, asshole, bag, boob, boobs, bosom, breast, breasts, brisket, bust, chest, chump, crop, defeatee, ding-a-ling, dingbat, dingdong, dolt, dolthead, duck, dug, fall guy, fathead, galoot, game loser, good loser, good sport, goof, jerk, jerk-off, klutz, knockers, loser, mama, mamelon, mamelonation, mammary gland, mammilla, mammillation, mutt, nenes, nipple, oak, pap, papilla, pigeon breast, prize sap, sap, saphead, sawney, schlemiel, sport, stooge, teat, the vanquished, thorax, tit, tits, titties, titty, udder, underdog, victim