bobbery pack
- noun
- Archaic
- The teacher struggled to keep the bobbery pack under control during recess.
Examples
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A bobbery pack raced through the playground, laughing and shouting joyfully.
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During the party, a bobbery pack invaded the living room with games and giggles.
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A bobbery pack of children ran through the park.
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Look at that bobbery pack playing in the yard!
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A bobbery pack raced through the playground, laughing and shouting joyfully.
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During the party, a bobbery pack invaded the living room with games and giggles.
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The teacher struggled to keep the bobbery pack under control during recess.
How Noisy
Surface Forms
Morphology
bobbery + pack
The first constituent 'bobbery' is not attested and has no clear semantic contribution a B1 learner could use, while 'pack' only signals a group. Because the key meaning (noisy, playful children) cannot be derived from the visible parts and the novel/nontransparent element is unpredictable, a learner who only knows the constituent words would not infer the idiomatic sense.
Etymology
Bobbery pack may come from the made-up sound bobbery, which copies children chattering and bobbing about, together with pack meaning a group. So it gives the picture of kids bouncing and shouting together, which is why it means 'a group of noisy and playful children'.