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/bˈubi træp/ Listen

noun

Booby n. (pl. boobies)

A dunce; a stupid fellow.

(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.

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Etymology of 'Booby trap'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Booby trap" Quotes from Famous Books

... Among the prisoners were a few officers. In default of other suitable accommodation, one of them was allowed to live in a room at the Commandant's house. He displayed great anxiety lest somebody should touch the disused telephone or other wires, fire a booby trap possibly left behind by his kind friends, and so blow ...

— With the British Army in The Holy Land • Henry Osmond Lock

... "Booby trap!" he declared, and cautiously groped around to find out if he had incautiously touched a fine wire. At a radius of his extended arm he found nothing of that nature. Perhaps, after all, a sniper was concealed in the bushes on his left, for ...

— Wilmshurst of the Frontier Force • Percy F. Westerman