yob

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

English

WOTD – 2 August 2010

Etymology

Backslang for boy.

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: yŏb, IPA^(key): /jɒb/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒb

Noun

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, Wilson, Paul R., 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 Britain, Australia, New Zealand, slang) A person who engages in antisocial behaviour or drunkenness.
   • 2005 January 10, Jackson, Melissa, “Music to deter yobs by”, in BBC News‎^[1]:

   • 2009 August 8, Daley, Janet, “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, Southern, Keiran, “'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.

Synonyms

• (boy): See Thesaurus:boy
• (antisocial person):
  • (standard register): hooligan
  • (British): tearaway, chav
  • (chiefly Australian slang): yobbo
  • (Geordie slang): charva
• bully, hooligan, roughneck, rowdy, ruffian

Derived terms

• (antisocial person): yobbish, yobbo

Related terms

• (boy): elrig (“girl”)

Translations

antisocial person

• Catalan: brètol
• Czech: chuligán m, vandal (cs) m
• Finnish: huligaani (fi)
• French: voyou (fr) m asocial (fr) m, houligan (fr) m, paumé (fr) m, pauv'type m, loubard (fr) m, blouson noir (fr) m, casseur (fr) m
• German: Halbstarker (de) m, Halbstarke (de) f, Rabauke (de) m, Rabaukin f, Rowdy (de) m, Rowdyin f, Randalierer (de) m, Randaliererin (de) f, Hooligan (de) m, Hooliganin f, Hool m, Hoolin f

• Greek: μάγκας (el) m (mágkas)
• Italian: monello (it) m, birichino (it) m
• Russian: хулига́н (ru) m (xuligán), го́пник (ru) m (gópnik)
• Spanish: vándalo (es) m, gamberro (es) m, golfo (es) m, granuja (es) m (Spain), patotero (es) m, hincha (es) m (Peru, River Plate region)
• Swedish: buse (sv) c, bråkstake (sv) c

Anagrams

• BYO, boy, byo, oby