to be a booby
- idiom
- Offensive
:
hacer el tonto
- Everyone in the meeting thought he was a booby for forgetting the main topic.
Examples
-
He acted like a total booby when he tripped over his own feet.
-
Everyone over there would see that I am a booby.
Fiction book (1998) -
She felt like a booby after mixing up the dates for the big event.
Synonyms
233
1.8
To behave in a silly, playful way and waste time
88
2.1
Act in a foolish or playful way without taking things seriously
42
4.1
Act in a way that makes you look silly or embarrassed
7
4.6
Act in a silly way to make others laugh or avoid being serious
3
8.0
To behave in a silly or embarrassing way to get attention
2
8.1
To act in a silly, embarrassing way to make people laugh
1
9.4
Act in a foolish way and ignore good advice
1
9.9
To act in a foolish way
1
9.9
To behave in a silly or clumsy way
1
9.9
Act in a foolish, annoying way instead of being serious
1
9.9
To behave in a rude, stupid way
1
9.9
To make yourself look foolish by doing or saying silly things
To behave in a foolish, clumsy way that makes people laugh
To behave in a foolish and clumsy way
Act in a foolish way that can cause trouble
Act in a silly, embarrassing way
Behave in a silly, careless way to avoid serious talk
Behave in a silly, clumsy way to make people laugh at you
Behave in a silly or foolish way
To behave foolishly or clumsily
Behave in a silly, not very smart way
To behave in a silly or annoying way
Behave in a silly, clumsy way
To behave rudely or foolishly in a way that annoys others
To behave foolishly and show little common sense
Act in a foolish, clumsy way
To behave in a silly and immature way
To behave in a silly, awkward way that looks foolish
Act in a silly and annoying way
Act in a foolish way because you trust people too easily
To behave in a silly or wild way that makes people laugh
To behave in a stupid and rude way
Behave in a very childish way as an adult
To ignore good advice and behave foolishly
To behave in a silly, rude way and break rules
Antonyms
How Foolish
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'be' (to have a state) + 'a' (article) + 'booby' (a foolish person) yields 'to be a fool' or behave foolishly. This copular construction is a common, cross-linguistically transparent pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Be a booby comes from the word booby, a name sailors gave to a clumsy sea bird that looked friendly and easy to catch. Because the bird seemed 'stupid', people began to call careless people boobies, so be a booby means 'behave in a foolish or silly way'.