Word.ws English Dictionary

booby

/ˈbuːbi/

booby noun: a stupid person.

booby: a stupid person
Image: Pete, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

booby (plural boobies)

  1. A stupid person.
    • A Frenchman, in his own Country, would dress a fine Dinner of twenty Dishes, and all genteel and pretty, for the Expence he will put an English Lord to for dressing one Dish. But then there is the little petty Profit. [...] So much is the blind Folly of this Age, that they would rather be impos'd...1747, Hannah Glasse, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, page iii
    • The daughter is said to be well-bred and beautiful; the son an awkward booby, reared up and spoiled at his mother's apron-string.1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, act I
  2. Any of various large tropical seabirds from the genera Sula and Papasula in the family Sulidae, traditionally considered to be stupid.
    • At which time, ſome Boobyes, weary of flight, made our Ship their pearch, an animall ſo ſimple as ſuffers any to take her without feare, as if a ſtupid ſenſe made her careleſſe of danger...1638, Sir Thomas Herbert, Some years travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique
    • We found on St. Paul's only two kinds of birds—the booby and the noddy. The former is a species of gannet, and the latter a tern. Both are of a tame and stupid disposition, and are so unaccustomed to visitors, that I could have killed any number of them with my geological hammer.1839, Robert FitzRoy, Phillip Parker King, Charles Darwin, chapter I, in Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty’s Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the Years 1826 and 1836, […], volume...
  3. In the game of croquet, a ball that has not passed through the first wicket.
    • A booby may displace another booby or a bridged ball by roquet, ricochet, or concussion.1863, Mayne Reid, Croquet, London: C.J. Skeet, page 33

Verb

booby (third-person singular simple present boobies, present participle boobying, simple past and past participle boobied)

  1. (intransitive, rare) To behave stupidly; to act like a booby.
    • Who lounge and who loot, and who booby about, / No knowledge within, and no manners without;1824, Washington Irving, “Proclamation”, in Salmagundi, volume 1
  2. (transitive) To install a booby trap on or at (something); to attack (someone) with a booby trap.
    • Self Boobied. Donald E. Campbell of Merritt Island, Fla., accidentally tripped on one of the shotgun shell booby traps he had installed1976, “Weekly Almanac”, in Jet, volume 22, page 44

Adjective (1)

booby (comparative more booby, superlative most booby)

  1. (obsolete, slang) Stupid; unintelligent.
    • When we arrived at the houſe, I was in the utmoſt confuſion; for the booby ſervants ſtood gaping and grinning at my diſtreſs, and Sir Sampſson himſelf told me, with a laugh as horrible as Caliban's, that he would lend me one of his maids to carry me out airing every morning.1755 January 23, The Connoisseur, 3rd edition, volume 2, number 52, published 1757, page 131

Noun (2)

booby (plural boobies)

  1. (childish, colloquial) A breast.
    • At ten o’clock she was lying on the divan with her boobies in her hands.1934, Henry Miller, Tropic of Cancer, Grove Press, published 1961
    • Got my neck, got my boobies / Got my heart, got my soul / Got my back, I got my sex1968, “Ain't Got No, I Got Life”, in 'Nuff Said!, performed by Nina Simone

Adjective (2)

booby (comparative boobier, superlative boobiest)

  1. (informal) Displaying breasts prominently.
    • If it's too tight, I don't want the fat coming out heeya?' She points to the danger spot, where upper arm brushes against glorious bosom, and the top of a strapless dress can cut an unsightly line. 'Am I very booby? Do I look very chesty?'2001, Helen Garner, The Feel of Steel, Picador Australia, →ISBN, page 221
    • We did a photoshoot the week before and she took the dress from the shoot and said: "I want to wear this for the awards next week. Her publicist was like, "Don't you think it's a bit 'booby' for a kids event?" But she wore it anyway!'2011 March 31, Jo Berry, Katy Perry: California Gurl, Hachette UK, →ISBN
  2. (informal) Having large breasts.
    • Can I borrow your pink lacey bra?
      Why? You're like three sizes boobier than me?2021 June 10, Lucy Vine, Bad Choices: The most hilarious book about female friendship you’ll read this year!, Hachette UK, →ISBN
    Synonyms:
    busty, chesty

booby meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

booby in Hindi

बूबी

booby in Tamil

நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும் பறவைகளில், இது ஒரு சிறப்பு இனமாகும்

booby in Marathi

बूबी

booby in Urdu

احمق, بدھو, سادح لوح
More languagesFewer languages
booby in Bengali
বুবি, বুবি করার জন্য, বুবি করা
booby in Telugu
బూబీ, బూబి, బూబీకి
booby in Malayalam
മണ്ടൻ
booby in Kannada
ಬೂಬಿ, ಬೂಬೀ, ಬೂಬಿಗೆ
booby in Punjabi
ਬੂਬੀ, ਬੂਬੀ ਕਰਨ ਲਈ
booby in Gujarati
બૂબી, બૂબી કરવા માટે, બૂબી કરવા
booby in Nepali
बूबी, बूबी गर्न
booby in Thai
หน่มน้ม nòm-nóm
booby in Vietnamese
chim điên

Synonyms of booby

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of booby

Forms of booby

Noun
pluralboobies
Verb
third-person singular presentboobies
present participleboobying
past participleboobied
pastboobied
Adjective
comparativemore booby
superlativemost booby
comparativeboobier
superlativeboobiest

Origin of booby

17th century. From Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus (“stammering”). (bird): Compare typologically Translingual Morus, German Tölpel, Polish głuptak (akin to głupek), Russian о́луша (óluša) (akin to о́лух (ólux)).

From the earlier form bubby.

From boob + -y.

Words formed from booby

Phrases with booby

Words that rhyme with booby

Questions about booby

What does booby mean?
Booby means a stupid person.
What is booby in Hindi?
Booby in Hindi is बूबी. See Booby meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is booby?
Booby can be a noun, a verb or an adjective.
How do you pronounce booby?
Booby is pronounced /ˈbuːbi/.
What is the plural of booby?
The plural of booby is boobies.

Words near booby in the dictionary

  1. boobsweat
  2. boobtacular
  3. boobtastic
  4. boobular
  5. Boobus Americanus
  6. booby
  7. booby hatch
  8. booby hatches
  9. booby house
  10. booby houses
  11. booby hut

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: booby (page history and authors); booby (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); booby (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); booby (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); booby (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); booby (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-booby.wav.

Cite this entry: “booby.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/booby. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.