FOB

See also: fob, F.O.B., and F. O. B.

English

Alternative forms

• F.O.B., F. O. B., fob

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

FOB (not comparable)

1. (Incoterm) Initialism of free on board.
2. (slang) Initialism of fresh off the boat.
   • 2022, Ling Ma, “G”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN:

     All I knew was, the three-year gap made the difference between passing as American and being exposed as FOB.

Noun

FOB (countable and uncountable, plural FOBs)

1. (military) Initialism of forward operating base.
2. Initialism of flash of brilliance.
3. Initialism of freedom of belief.
4. (US, politics) Initialism of friend of Bill: a supporter of Bill Clinton.
   • 2007, David Lebedoff, The Uncivil War: How a New Elite Is Destroying Our Democracy, page 133:

     It seemed at times that everyone was an FOB — everyone, that is, who'd emerged from the ivyest groves of academia […]

5. (India) Initialism of foot overbridge: a pedestrian overpass.
   • 2014 August 30, D. Madhavan, “Need for foot over bridge keenly felt”, in The Hindu‎^[1]:

     There has been an inordinate delay in starting work on the foot over bridge (FOB) with escalators in front of D.G. Vaishnav College on Poonamallee High Road in Arumbakkam. […] The FOB at P.H. Road, which is maintained by the state highways department, is one of seven similar facilities planned at various places in the city at a cost of Rs. 28 crore and being executed by the department.

6. (sometimes derogatory) Initialism of fresh off the boat, a recent immigrant.

   Synonyms: freshie, greener, new chum; see also Thesaurus:newcomer

   • 1993, Susan Kulkin, Speaking Out: Teenagers Take on Race, Sex, and Identity, New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, page 59:

     Everyone was Chinese. Some of the students were ABCs. That means "American-born Chinese." Others were FOBs. FOB means "fresh off the boat" and it is a bad insult. I didn't feel prejudiced about the FOBs because I was one of them.

7. (pathology) Abbreviation of fecal occult blood.

Derived terms

• fobby
• FOBT

 

Proper noun

FOB

1. (music) Initialism of Fall Out Boy, an American pop-punk band formed in Chicago.

Further reading

• “FOB”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• Jonathon Green (2024) “f.o.b. n.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang

Anagrams

• BOF, F. B. O., F.B.O., F/B/O, FBO