Word
booby
Phoneticsboo·by
US/ˈbubi/
UK/bˈuːbi/
Definitions
01a seabird
n. a large tropical seabird that lives near the ocean.
n. any of several species of large tropical seabirds within the family Sulidae, known for their clumsy movement on land.
“We saw a blue-footed booby diving for fish near the cliffs.”
“The naturalist spent months observing the nesting habits of the masked booby on the remote tropical archipelago.”
Synonyms
03a foolish person
n. a silly or stupid person.
n. a person perceived as foolish, stupid, or clumsy. Often used in the phrase 'booby prize' for the person who finishes last.
“Don't be such a booby and look where you are walking.”
“He felt like a complete booby after tripping over the only obstacle in the empty hall.”
Informal · Archaic
Teaching tip
This sense is becoming dated; modern speakers are more likely to use 'idiot' or 'fool'.
Antonyms
04to set a trap
v. to hide a trap somewhere to surprise or hurt someone.
v. to install a booby trap on or at a location; to rig an object to explode or collapse when touched.
“The kids tried to booby-trap the door with a bucket of water.”
“Retreating forces had booby-trapped the abandoned crates to hinder the enemy's progress.”
Informal
Usage
Usually appears in the compound form 'booby-trap' rather than the bare verb.
Real-World Examples
“Blue-footed boobies, common to Peru and Ecuador, began showing up in large numbers in Panama in early summer.” “For millennia, millions of seabirds, including guanay cormorants , Peruvian boobies and pelicans , had nested on rocky outcrops along South America’s arid Pacific coast.” Etymology
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.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Word family
Idioms
booby prize — A prize or status, often unwelcome, awarded as a joke or disincentive to the loser of a contest or for poor performance.
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/booby