Boob

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Boob

Origin of Phrases - B

 

Boob

While there's never been a definitive link between the slang word for breast and the lumps that appeared on the bodies of victims of the Black Death or bubonic plague, the use of the word "boob" started sometime around the time of the Black Plaque. This is the history as presented in Cassell's Dictionary of Slang:
Bubo - from the 14th century, refers to a swelling of some kind. The word bubonic is derived from bubo.
Bubby - from the late 17th century, refers to a breast or both breasts together.
Bube - from the late 18th century, refers to a venereal disease. Bube also is a derivative of bubo.
Booby - started around the 1910s. It has been established that it came from Bubby.
Boob - started in the 1940s, and traced to the word booby.