boffin
2
9.4
- noun
- /ˈbɒfɪn/
- UK
- It's Tuesday, which means that all across the nation, NFL boffins are squinting at their computers, releasing their power rankings for week two based on the pre-season hype and the performance of the teams in week one.
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeThese people are like, yeah, but I'm jealous of boffins.
- These people are like, yeah, but I'm jealous of boffins.
Examples
-
Our boffins recorded a sudden blast of heat.
Fiction book (1998) -
Boffins working on the technology say they will be able to read a person's "biological age" by measuring a structure on people's chromosomes called telomeres.
Blog text (16) -
Be fun to see how you boffin types live.
-
Right, lads, let's show these boffins what's what.
-
A number of well-known boffins in England and America had contacted him and requested his assistance.
Fiction book (1993) -
It was invented by the boffins at Xerox Park.
-
I must admit, though, that I do greatly enjoy the idea of some boffin at midnight in his laboratory measuring the emissivity of common substances when he hears the snap of the mousetrap he set earlier, and he thinks, hmmm...
Blog text (18) -
The boffins at the research lab developed a new vaccine to combat the virus.
-
Many boffins collaborated on the project to enhance data security for the government.
-
A group of boffins shared their findings on renewable energy sources at the conference.
How Expert
Surface Forms
Etymology
Boffin is British slang that became common in wartime to mean a 'clever scientist or technical expert'. Its exact origin is unclear, but one popular idea is that it came from a playful surname like 'Boffin' used for comic or clever characters, so people began calling real-life inventors and researchers boffins.