boob
boob Lexical Profile
boob Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A woman's breast (used in informal or slang contexts).
"She complained that the ill-fitting swimsuit was uncomfortable around her boobs."
North American A foolish, awkward, or stupid person.
"He felt like a complete boob when he realized he had locked his keys inside the car."
British An embarrassing mistake or foolish blunder.
"The announcer made a dreadful boob by mispronouncing the guest of honor's name."
• verb
British To make a foolish or embarrassing mistake.
"The referee admitted he had boobed by disallowing the winning goal."
Word Nuance & Usage
All senses of 'boob' belong to informal or slang registers; the anatomical sense is casual and potentially inappropriate in professional contexts, while the senses referring to a blunder or a verb ('to boob') are primarily British.
• Rhymes for boob
Word Origin & Etymology
The sense meaning a foolish person is an early 20th-century shortening of 'booby', which ultimately derives from Spanish 'bobo' (fool) and Latin 'balbus' (stammering). The anatomical sense likely developed independently from earlier Germanic dialectal words for a teat or breast, such as 'bubby'.