dobber

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒbə(ɹ)

dobber (plural dobbers)

2. Alternative form of dauber (“marker pen used for bingo cards”)
   • 2007, “Fluorescent Adolescent”, in Johanna Bennett, Alex Turner (lyrics), Favourite Worst Nightmare, performed by Arctic Monkeys:

     Said she wasn't going but she went still / Likes her gentlemen not to be gentle / Was it a Mecca dobber or a betting pencil?

4. (UK, derogatory) A member of the working class in Scotland or Ireland who is seen as undereducated, with poor taste, especially in clothes, and poor social skills.

   Coordinate terms: chav; see also Thesaurus:chav

6. (Australia, UK, derogatory) One who dobs (someone) (informs against them or implicates them to authority).

   Synonyms: snitch, snitcher, tattletale

   Nikki is such a dobber, she told the teacher that I hit Karen in the playground.

   • 1999, William De Maria, Deadly Disclosures: Whistleblowing and the Ethical Meltdown of Australia, page 16:

     In awakening us to our powerlessness, whistleblowers produce all sorts of crisscrossed emotions. Should we respond to them as truth-bearing ethical citizens, or spiteful, griping dobbers?

   • 2010, Lisa Heidke, What Kate Did Next, page 125:

     ‘Not only that,’ Graeme continued, ‘but Simone′s a dobber – and no-one likes a dobber, do they, K? […] ’

   • 2011, James Morton, Susanna Lobez, Gangland Melbourne, page 95:

     The question was whether the dobber had simply dobbed or whether he had planted the weapons.

8. (British, informal) Any small electronic device that plugs directly into a larger one, such as a wireless scoring system in fencing or a USB mass storage device.
10. (British, Ireland, chiefly dialect) A large marble.
    • 2004, Austin O'Donovan, O'Donovan from Garryowen, page 37:

      They were the biggest rosary beads I ever saw, the beads were the size of big marbles or dobbers or taws. Dobbers and taws we used to play with in the channels beside the footpaths, when we used to play the road games.

12. (US, regional) A float (as used by an angler).

    Synonym: bobber

    • 2007, William G. Tapply, Trout Eyes: True Tales of Adventure, Travel, and Fly-Fishing, page 191:

      In attaching this dobber or float, tie it on as short a tippet as you can manage and attach it to the leader from four to six feet above the nymph.

14. (US, regional, by extension, figurative) Spirit, pluck, self-esteem.
    • 1978, Robert Pack, Jerry Brown, the Philosopher-prince, Scarborough House:

      I went to the ballgame [in San Francisco] in April, and I was booed. I never was before that. It affected my dobber, my psyche.

    • 2010 January 1, Peter Golenbock, Paul Dickson, Bums: An Oral History of the Brooklyn Dodgers, Courier Corporation, →ISBN:

      Well, I got my dobber down, and I thought I was on my way back to Montreal. And I recall sitting down at the end of the dugout by myself and feeling damn dejected, I'll tell ya.

    • 2013 September 17, Mike Roos, One Small Town, One Crazy Coach: The Ireland Spuds and the 1963 Indiana High School Basketball Season, Indiana University Press, →ISBN, page 18:

      "Be patient, honey," Jim kept telling her. "Life will get better. You know it will. Keep your dobber up, as my grandmother always said.”

16. A dabchick.
18. (rare, agriculture) A part of a planter.
    • 1976, Percy W. Blandford, Old Farm Tools and Machinery: An Illustrated History‎, David & Charles, →ISBN:

      Plate 17. The wheels of a potato planter which are adjustable on the axle to control row spacing, while the ‘dobbers’ may have their position adjusted around the slots in the wheels (Farmland Museum, Haddenham)

    • 1977, GC & HTJ: Gardeners' Chronicle and Horticultural Trade Journal‎, volume 182, page 29:

      […] including their soil block planter, tractor mounted and suitable for use in 1.8 and 1.9m systems. The standard machine is fitted with 35 by 7cm rear depth wheels and a 55cm diameter drum, complete with bands of dobbers spaced at 30cm.

20. (Ireland, UK, especially Northern England and Scotland, slang) A penis, especially a relatively large one.

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:penis

    • 2011 July 7, Ross Raisin, Waterline, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

      He puts a hand around it, tries to mind what it means, the having of a penis. Nothing's doing but. His dobber's no sure about it either, and the two of them dither there for a while, waiting for something to happen, a connection.

    • 2021 July 8, Lisa Hobman, Under An Italian Sky: Escape to beautiful Italy with bestseller Lisa Hobman, Boldwood Books Ltd, →ISBN:

      "Yes, but to jump into bed with another woman right after being with you. That's just plain disgusting. He needs to keep his dobber in his bloody pants.' Caitlin huffed indignantly.

    • 2023 September 28, Lynsay Sands, Bad Luck Vampire: Book Thirty-Six, Hachette UK, →ISBN:

      "You should ha'e cut his dobber off," Inan opined with disgust. "I can'y stand men like that. Tryin' to take what isna on offer."

• robbed

From Middle Dutch dobber.^[1] This etymology is incomplete. You can help Wiktionary by elaborating on the origins of this term.

• IPA^(key): /ˈdɔbər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: dob‧ber
• Rhymes: -ɔbər

dobber m (plural dobbers, diminutive dobbertje n)

1. float (buoyant device used when fishing)

• dobberen
• een harde dobber (“something hard to accomplish or to solve”)