Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Booby

Boo′by (bo͞o′by̆), n.; pl. Boobies (-bĭz). [Sp. bobo dunce, idiot; cf. L. balbus stammering, E. barbarous.]

1. A dunce; a stupid fellow.

2. (Zoöl.) (a) A swimming bird (Sula fiber or S. 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. The name is also sometimes applied to other species of gannets; as, S. piscator, the red-footed booby. (b) A species of penguin of the antarctic seas.

Booby hatch (Naut.), a kind of wooden hood over a hatch, readily removable. — 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 trap, a schoolboy's practical joke, as a shower bath when a door is opened.

Boo′by (bo͞o′by̆), a. Having the characteristics of a booby; stupid.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.