Word.ws English Dictionary

dobby

dobby noun: a device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns.

dobby: a device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns
Image: Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

dobby (countable and uncountable, plural dobbies)

  1. A device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns.
  2. The patterns so woven, or the fabric containing the patterns.
  3. An evil or mischievous fairy or ghost sometimes said to haunt a building or household.
    • He understood Greek, Latin, and Hebrew; and, therefore, according to the apprehension, and in the phrase of his brother Wilfred, needed not to care “for ghaist or bar-ghaist, devil or dobbie.”1817 December 31 (indicated as 1818), [Walter Scott], Rob Roy. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and...
    • 'Twas no livin' woman, for she couldn't rise that height above the water, as they well knew when they came to think; and knew it was a dobby they saw; and ye may be sure they didn't spare prayer and blessin', and went on their course straight before the wind; […].1871, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, The Haunted Baronet
  4. (archaic) A dotard.
  5. (uncountable, chiefly Nottinghamshire) The children's game of tag.

Proper noun capitalized: Dobby

Dobby

  1. A surname originating as a patronymic.
  2. A male given name.

dobby meaning in Tamil

dobby in Tamil

பேட்டுப்பொறி, டாபி

Synonyms of dobby

All synonyms of dobby

Forms of dobby

pluraldobbies
alternative formdobbie

Plural of dobby: dobbies

Origin of dobby

From Dobby. Sense “household ghost” from Dob, variant of Rob.

From Dobbie.

Words that rhyme with dobby

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about dobby

What does dobby mean?
Dobby means a device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns.
What is dobby in Tamil?
Dobby in Tamil is பேட்டுப்பொறி, டாபி. See Dobby meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is dobby?
Dobby can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of dobby?
The plural of dobby is dobbies.

Words near dobby in the dictionary

  1. dobbins
  2. Dobbinson
  3. Dobbs
  4. Dobbs Ferry
  5. Dobbses
  6. dobby
  7. Dobbyn
  8. dobchick
  9. dobchicks
  10. Dobcross
  11. dobe

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dobby (page history and authors); Dobby (page history and authors); dobby (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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.

Last updated:

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

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