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bobbery

noun

Etymology

Uncertain; occurs earliest in British thieves' cant and Chinese Pidgin English, as well as extensively throughout British dialect. In origin, unrelated to the Anglo-Indian exclamation.

  1. derived from बाप रे

Definitions

  1. A squabble

    A squabble; a tumult; a noisy disturbance.

    • bobbery: a disturbance.
    • They’d’ve kick’d up a rale bubbery, and’ve thrown the fat intu the fire in a jump.
    • Another and another followed, till, at last, the unwieldy bank, amidst an awful bobbery, swung high and dry on the shelving beach; and out we all sprung, right glad once more to feel ourselves on terra firma.

  2. Oh dear! Alas! Good lord!

    • "Hullo!" said Col. Wingate, of the Dogras, who had just entered the stand, "another Carr-Jones spoof? By Jove, it isn't Carr-Jones; it's Polhill and Ulmun! Oh! bobbery: here, I'll lay a hundred to one in gold mohurs against the griffs!"

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bobbery. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA