See also: YOB, YoB, Y.O.B., and Y. O. B.

English

edit
 
English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

edit

Backslang for boy. The second sense was likely influenced by hobnob and/or yokel.

Pronunciation

edit

Noun

edit

yob (plural yobs)

  1. (obsolete, costermongers, back slang) A boy.
    • 1897, A. R. Marshall, Pomes[sic] from the Pink 'Un, page 76:
      And you bet that each gal, not to mention each yob,
      Didn't care how much ooftish it cost 'em per nob.
    • 2010, Paul R. Wilson, The Birthday of Eternity, page 209:
      As we left the cemetery, I heard an elderly gravedigger muttering back slang to himself before Lucien's headstone. "Bloody shame, ain't it? Doubt the yob did much living by eighteen."
      I corrected the man, saying, “No fear, that yob did plenty of living.”
  2. (derogatory, chiefly UK, Ireland, Commonwealth, slang) A person who engages in antisocial behaviour or drunkenness.
    • 2005 January 10, Melissa Jackson, “Music to deter yobs by”, in BBC News[1]:
    • 2009 August 8, Janet Daley, “The real reason for all those louts on holiday”, in The Telegraph[2]:
      Yes, it's holiday time again for British yobs – and the rest of us can flee to those parts of Abroad which the louts ignore, or just cringe in shame at home.
    • 2017 March 27, Keiran Southern, “'We could have been killed': Fury at yobs who bricked windscreen with baby girl in car”, in Chronicle Live[3], retrieved 2017-03-28:
      But while doing 70mph on the A1, a hooded yob threw rock[sic – meaning a rock] from a grass verge onto the windscreen of the family’s Jeep, causing it to swerve.
    • 2022 November 2, Paul Bigland, “New trains, old trains, and splendid scenery”, in RAIL, number 969, page 57:
      Three local yobs have also joined, but they have not reckoned on a redoubtable Conductor and two local revenue protection officers who soon escort them off the train!

Synonyms

edit

Derived terms

edit
edit
  • (boy): elrig (girl)

Translations

edit

Anagrams

edit