▪ I. bobby, n.
(ˈbɒbɪ)
1. (With capital initial.) Pet form of Bob, familiar perversion of Robert.
2. [Hence probably in allusion to the name of Mr. (afterwards Sir) Robert Peel, who was Home Secretary when the new Metropolitan Police Act was passed in 1828.] A slang nickname for a policeman. See also peeler.
| 1844 Sessions' Paper June 341, I heard her say..‘a bobby’..it was a signal to let them know a policeman was coming. 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour 16 (Hoppe) He could muzzle half a dozen bobbies before breakfast. 1877 Besant & Rice Son of Vulc. ii. xxiii. 367 [He] might have been killed only that the bobbies interfered. 1884 L. J. Jennings in Croker Papers II. xiv. 17 Frequently when the constables made their appearance..they were hooted and insulted, mobs following them crying out ‘crusher’, ‘raw lobster’, ‘Bobbies’, and ‘Peelers’. |
3. bobby wren (dial.): see quot.
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 35 Wren..From its short bob-tail it has the names of Cutty or Cut..Bobby wren (Norfolk), [etc.]. |
4. In full bobby calf, an unweaned calf slaughtered soon after birth. Cf. bob-veal.
| 1927 Meat Trades Jrnl. 16 June 1209/7 Central Meat Market..Veal: Moderate supply of fat calves..bobbies very short and dear. 1928 Auckland Weekly News 26 July 58/3, 30,000 bobby calves, mostly from the Waikato, were exported..last season as boneless veal. 1929 Daily Express 7 Nov. 15/5 Veal..specials 8s.–9s., bobbies 4s.–5s. 1938 N.Z. Statutory Regulations 334 ‘Bobby calf’ means a calf which is intended for slaughter for human consumption as boneless veal. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 16 Feb. 11/1 Scotch bobbies, 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. 1965 Economist 2 Oct. 70/2 In the past, the calf of a pure dairy cow, unless she was a heifer and so a potential milk-factory, was classed as a useless ‘bobby’ calf fit only for veal. |
▪ II. ˈbobby, v. Obs. rare.
? = bob v.1 2, or bob v.2 1.
| 14.. MS. Addit. 11748 f. 145 (Halliw.) The clooth byfore þi eyen to, To bobby þe [Christ] þay knit hit so. |