Looby
name, noun
name, noun ·2 syllables ·Uncommon ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A large and awkward or clumsy person; an oaf. archaic, dialectal
"‘Depend upon it, Sir, a savage, when he is hungry, will not carry about with him a looby of nine years old, who cannot help himself.’"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname from Irish.
Example
More examples"‘Depend upon it, Sir, a savage, when he is hungry, will not carry about with him a looby of nine years old, who cannot help himself.’"
Etymology
Etymology 1
Uncertain. Perhaps from lob (“a large piece, lump”) + -y.
Etymology 2
Reduced Anglicized form of Irish Ó Lúbaigh (“descendant of Lúbach”), a byname originally applied to a cunning person, from lúbach (“looped, coiled; crafty, tricky”).
More for "looby"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.