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Booby   /bˈubi/   Listen
noun
Booby  n.  (pl. boobies)  
1.
A dunce; a stupid fellow.
2.
(Zool.)
(a)
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.
(b)
A species of penguin of the antarctic seas.
Booby hatch
(a)
(Naut.), a kind of wooden hood over a hatch, readily removable.
(b)
, an insane asylum. (Colloq.)
Booby hut, a carriage body put upon sleigh runners. (Local, U. S.)
Booby hutch, a clumsy covered carriage or seat, used in the eastern part of England.
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)
, a schoolboy's practical joke, as a shower bath when a door is opened.
(b)
, any concealed device causing surprise or injury when a usually harmless object is touched; in military operations, typically containing an explosive charge.


adjective
Booby  adj.  Having the characteristics of a booby; stupid.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Booby" Quotes from Famous Books



... When you read the story of the Archbishop and Gil Blas, you may laugh, if you will, at the poor old man's delusion; but don't forget that the youth was the greater fool of the two, and that his master served such a booby rightly in turning him ...
— The Autocrat of the Breakfast-Table • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (The Physician and Poet not the Jurist)
... in the same low tone. "That's the bogle-booby breathing. He's asleep now, but when he wakes he'll roll about so that he'll fill ...
— Menhardoc • George Manville Fenn
... apartment is a collection of paintings by Portuguese artists, chiefly portraits, amongst which is that of Don Sebastian. I sincerely hope it did not do him justice, for it represents him in the shape of an awkward lad of about eighteen, with a bloated booby face with staring eyes, and a ruff round a short ...
— The Bible in Spain • George Borrow
... The death of Sir Thomas Booby, with the affectionate and mournful behaviour of his widow, and the ...
— Joseph Andrews Vol. 1 • Henry Fielding
... here, sir," he said. "Something to tell you. Wouldn't tell me. But Bruno got it out of him at last. Must be something serious, for the big booby has been drinking ever since. Hear him in the cafe, ...
— The Eternal City • Hall Caine


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