boob1
/buːb
/informal
noun
1British An embarrassing mistake: the boob was spotted by a security expert at the show...
- The London newspaper which made the boob quickly acknowledged its error, and he took his seat in Parliament.
- He will learn from his boob and it cannot detract from his performance.
- It overcame the curse of the solitary writer by creating a Jekyll-Hyde pairing, the crass boob with a commercial touch and the angst-ridden elitist sibling.
2North American A foolish or stupid person: why was that boob given a key investigation?...
- Of course, if Homeland Security had swooped down on the harmless replica, that would have been taken as evidence they were incompetent boobs as well.
- In the few scenes shown from the Union's side, we get the impression of incompetent boobs more afraid of the cold than command.
- Lest it seem that I think that all journalists are ignorant boobs, I should note that there are exceptions.
verb [no object] British
Make an embarrassing mistake: police realized they had boobed...
- He should also be applauded for having the guts to admit he might have boobed and wrongly made one of the most crucial decisions in the match.
- OK, I admit I boobed on the Marie Antoinette let-them-eat-cake thing.
- I suggest we get as many people as possible to write in with a response so the paper knows it has boobed.
Origin
Early 20th century: abbreviation of booby1.
Boob meaning ‘mistake’ is an abbreviation of booby ‘stupid or childish person’ in use two centuries earlier and probably derived from Spanish bobo, from Latin balbus ‘stammering’. Boo-boo which arose in the 1950s in the US for ‘mistake’ is from boob, as is the slang term boob tube (mid 20th century) for a television. Also American is boob for ‘breast’. This is an abbreviation of another booby, a 1930s alteration of dialect bubby. There is perhaps a connection with German dialect Bübbi ‘teat’.
Rhymes
boob2
/buːb/noun (usually boobs) informal
A woman’s breast.I didn't even want to think what his reaction would be if the doc got anywhere near my boobs....
- Her tummy is trim, her legs long (for obvious reasons), her boobs big, and her butt nice and round.
- A blonde girl, hmmm, with big boobs, that's not so easy to pinpoint, there have been a quite a few of them on the show.
Origin
1950s (originally US): abbreviation of booby2, from dialect bubby, of uncertain origin; perhaps related to German dialect Bübbi 'teat'.