Crossword clues for booby
booby
- Definitely not a brain surgeon
- Dunce or gannet
- Fool
- An ignorant or foolish person
- Small tropical gannet having a bright bill or bright feet or both
- Kind of trap or prize
- Kind of prize or trap
- Kind of hatch
- Stupid person
- Type of prize
- Word with "trap" or "prize"
- Type of prize you don't want to win
- Word with hatch or prize
- Prize for the worst
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Booby \Boo"by\ (b[=oo]"b[y^]), a. Having the characteristics of a booby; stupid.
Booby \Boo"by\ (b[=oo]"b[y^]), n.; pl. Boobies (-b[i^]z). [Sp. bobo dunce, idiot; cf. L. balbus stammering, E. barbarous.]
A dunce; a stupid fellow.
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(Zo["o]l.)
A swimming bird ( Sula fiber or Sula 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 -- unafraid of men, it allows itself to be caught by a simple and undisguised approach. The name is also sometimes applied to other species of gannets; as, Sula piscator, the red-footed booby; and Sula nebouxii, the blue-footed booby.
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A species of penguin of the antarctic seas. Booby hatch
(Naut.), a kind of wooden hood over a hatch, readily removable.
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, an insane asylum. [Colloq.] Booby hut, a carriage body put upon sleigh runners. [Local, U. S.] --Bartlett. Booby hutch, a clumsy covered carriage or seat, used in the eastern part of England. --Forby. Booby prize, an award for the poorest performance in a competition; hence, metaphorically, the recognition of a strikingly inferior or incompetent performance. Booby trap
, a schoolboy's practical joke, as a shower bath when a door is opened.
, any concealed device causing surprise or injury when a usually harmless object is touched; -- in military operations, typically containing an explosive charge.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1590s, from Spanish bobo "stupid person, slow bird" (used of various ungainly seabirds), probably from Latin balbus "stammering," from an imitative root (see barbarian).\n
\nBooby prize is by 1883: an object of little value given to the loser of a game; booby trap is 1850, originally a schoolboy prank; the more lethal sense developed during World War I.\n\nAt the end of every session the dominie had the satirical custom of presenting his tawse as a "booby-prize" to some idle or stupid lout whom he picked out as meriting this distinction so that next time they met he might start fresh and fair with new pair for a new set of classes.
[Ascott R. Hope, "Dumps," "Young England" magazine, 1883]
Wiktionary
Etymology 1 n. 1 A stupid person. 2 (context by extension English) Any of various large tropical seabirds from the genera ''Sula'' and ''Papasula'' in the gannet family Sulidae, traditionally considered to be stupid. vb. 1 (context rare intransitive English) To behave stupidly; to act like a booby. 2 (context transitive English) To install a booby trap on or at (something); to attack (someone) with a booby trap. Etymology 2
n. (context slang English) a woman’s breast
WordNet
Wikipedia
The booby is a type of seabird.
Booby or boobie may also refer to:
Usage examples of "booby".
I also knew that when we came back the enemy would have stepped up their own aggressiveness, no doubt adding a few more booby traps around the area to welcome us.
He made the boat ready at daybreak, and certain gannets, pintadoes, boobies, and noddies, and divers with eyes in their heads like fiery jewels--birds whose greedy maws he had often gratified--chose to fancy he must be going a-fishing, and were on the alert, and rather troublesome.
The Marquis vo Derrivalle had spent a recent joyless month in Sherreen, transacting business and renewing his acquaintance ships at Court, whose elite members regarded him as a provincial booby.
But he was a roue, and had nothing in common with this booby, who has a talent for painting as an elephant has a trunk--what irony!
He ran nearly on all fours, both because it was the naturally speediest position for kzin and for fear of beams, Sinclair monomolecular wires and other booby traps.
It is needless to say that Passepartout watched these curious ceremonies with staring eyes and gaping mouth, and that his countenance was that of the greenest booby imaginable.
It was he who did the most cutting, chopping with his machete while simultaneously staying alert for trip wires, booby traps, and pungi pits.
Mekong Delta with the booby traps and the pungi pits and the trip wires?
Roth, by the use of booby traps, Molotov cocktails, dynamite, punji pits, C-4, rocks, clubs, bottles, chains, wire, ambushes.
There were also the ever-present booby traps to take their toll of the American troops, as well as punji stakes and malaria, but very little actual fighting.
He relied entirely on Matatu to Pick UP any sign of a booby trap or antipersonnel mine that might have been laid on the tracks to hinder pursuit, but apart from that they went in single file at a speed not much below that of an Olympic marathon.
Mine dogs would be taught to detect mines, trip wires, booby traps and other explosive devices buried or hidden from view.
After the dogs were trained, they could be relied upon to discover all mines--antitank, antipersonnel, metallic or nonmetallic --as well as trip wires, booby traps and almost any buried objects, day or night.
It is needless to say that Passepartout watched these curious ceremonies with staring eyes and gaping mouth, and that his countenance was that of the greenest booby imaginable.
So we saw these young women, and we rendered some help to them, and you went all mooncalf over Deb on her looks alone, you booby.