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Glite Dictionary
booby house

booby house

7.7
A place at a fair with funny games and silly tricks for children
  • noun
  • Baby Talk
translation icon : casa de juegos
  • The new booby house downtown is filled with prank mirrors and wacky games.

Examples

  • Laughter echoed from the booby house as kids tried the funny obstacle course.

  • Every summer, the children begged to visit the booby house at the fair.

  • Kids love the booby house!

  • The booby house is so much fun!

  • Every summer, the children begged to visit the booby house at the fair.

  • Laughter echoed from the booby house as kids tried the funny obstacle course.

  • The new booby house downtown is filled with prank mirrors and wacky games.

Synonyms

playroom
vsbooby house
19 1.0

A room in a house where children play and keep toys

is more purposely silly and aimed at entertaining children
funhouse
vsbooby house
  • Informal
3 4.8

A chaotic, confusing situation like the strange rooms in a fair attraction

is gentler and meant for child friendly silly amusement rather than chaos

Surface Forms

booby house singular
booby houses plural

Morphology

booby + house

The meaning 'a place for silly or lighthearted entertainment' is directly derived from combining 'booby' (a foolish or silly person) with 'house' (a building or venue), forming a straightforward noun–noun compound analogous to 'funhouse' or 'house of fools'. This compositional pattern is predictable and cross-linguistically accessible, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE's sense.

Etymology

The noun booby house may come from old fair shows where booby meant 'a fool' and a little house was full of trick mirrors and surprises that made people look silly and laugh. That's why the phrase now means a place of silly, child-friendly fun.