Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A mechanical part in a loom that controls the harnesses so as to permit weaving of small geometric figures.
- n. A small geometric figure woven into fabric.
- n. A fabric with such figures.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A fool; a childish old man.
- n. A sprite or apparition.
- n. Same as dobby-machine.
Wiktionary
- n. A device in some looms that allows the weaving of small, geometric patterns
- n. The patterns so woven, or the fabric containing the patterns
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Weaving) An apparatus resembling a Jacquard for weaving small figures (usually about 12 - 16 threads, seldom more than 36 - 40 threads).
Etymologies
- Perhaps from Dobbie, diminutive of Dob, alteration of Rob, nickname for Robert. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Dickinson, Burnley, showed Catlow's patent dobby, which is illustrated above, as applied to a strong calico loom.”
“I love little dobby, but I guess hes a bit of a freaky little troll.”
“Pritchard's dobby loom is a large, foot-operated, wooden contraption.”
“Makes you feel real dobby, that does," said Pete.”
“HusseinTenaX in reply to a comment from robby dobby”
“Who's the midget in the chair? clickofalight if i answered you, i might cry thinking of poor dobby...”
“If anyone has any wisdom pertaining to the successful sewing with and dying of bamboo dobby fabric, please leave a comment.”
Polka Dot Cottage » (Mis)adventures in tub-dying » Print
“THE QUEEN IS A WONDERFUL WOMAN but truth be told, I ` m not so sure about dobby Price Charles who likes to mutter greenly from his fleet of Jags.”
“BTW, dobby, toejam an oddity was moas worried wen got home, discovered only 1 can uf gushifood left…wow, hubby was really sick!”
DRUG-RELATED - Lolcats 'n' Funny Pictures of Cats - I Can Has Cheezburger?
“May 19, 2008 at 1:28 pm iz dat da sok HP gib Dobby? dobby iz gud elf! it nawt matirz if sok iz smel.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dobby’.
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supernatural creatures according to M...
Turned this up on etymonline.com (link). It's amazing.
Hobbit (n.)
1937, coined in the fantasy tales of J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973).
On a blank leaf I scrawled: 'In a hole...ghost, boggle, bloody-bones, spirit, demon, ignis fatuus, brownie, bugbear, black dog, specter, shellycoat, scarecrow and 186 more...
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A List Of The Cutest Words Ever Created!
HEE OK LETS DO IT! I'm v.v. excited! (with thanks to whichbe, Lampbane, bilby, effigy, frogapplause, and fredrx!)
piggy, toesy woesies, snurfle, wiggly, chomp, lewispoo, dobby, dunderhead, cupcake, mumbo jumbo, wigglebop, scuttle and 99 more...
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list
hogwarts, dobby, wand, Ollivanders, nerds, frugal, voldemort, death, cloak, stone, ressurection, stone' and 2 more...
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The Devil and His Imps
Names of 'the Devil himself, the devils his "flaming ministers", household goblins, rural demons, bogles, sprites, and fairies of all kinds' mentioned in Charles P.G. Scott's 'The Devil and His Imp...
devil, devilet, deviling, dablet, black angel, black man, black bear, black bull, black dog, bogle, bogie, boggard and 128 more...
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Weaverly Words
Words that relate to, or come from, the weaving trade.
Weave, Warp, Weft, Loom, Weaver, Weaving, woven, handwoven, twill, tabby, plainweave, sleazy and 95 more...
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A little of the old Ultra-Violence
Gorgeousness and Gorgeosity made flesh- downright horrorshow selections of vocabulary from Nadsat, the Russian-influenced slang of the raping and face-stomping delinquents of Burgess's A Clockwork ...
appypolly loggy, baboochka, baddiwad, banda, bezoomy, bitva, bog, bolnoy, bolshy, bratchny, bratty, britva and 186 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (D)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
desert rose, dabble, daffodil, dagger, dairymaid, daisy, damask, damson, dappled, dart, dashed, dauphin and 111 more...
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Fabrics
Woven, knit and tatted fabrics. Other kinds of cloth, such as tapa and chamois are not included.
shikii, shantung, cotton, linen, tweed, wool, velour, velvet, velveteen, gabardine, chenille, silk and 550 more...
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harry potter
oddment, tweak, lumos, flourish, filch, felix felicis, quaffle, bludger, snitch, voldemort, phoenix, slytherin and 61 more...
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yardage
types of fabric
cotton, wool, silk, linen, rayon, nylon, spandex, lycra, lurex, goretex, challis, brocade and 77 more...
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The Voice of the Shuttle
Weaving words
tapestry, treadle, warp, yarn, weft, woof, filling, thread, selvage, inkle, weftfaced, warpfaced and 30 more...
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a list.
toast marketing b..., turquois, ireland, monochromatic, dodo, unfrocked, global, humanity, eclectic, deparrotization, footballer, wag and 13 more...
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Poppycock
Nonsense.
folderol, taradiddle, tommyrot, drivel, rubbish, balderdash, baloney, gibberish, bosh, flummery, gobbledegook, rot and 8 more...
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Unsolved Mysteries
dobby, doppelgänger, fetch, larva, poltergeist, apport, revenant, spook, taisch, second sight, wraith, hag-ridden and 17 more...
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How to name a cat
Nomen est omen?
apollo, absinthe, bonk, party animal, yo, purr machine, plato, catface, joker, tobacco, teacher, sambuca and 25 more...
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Animal Characters
All of the animals and humanoid creatures that didn't quite make it onto my other Characters List.
Tweets
Looking for tweets for dobby.
tiggytig dob·by /ˈdɒbi/ –noun, plural -bies.
1. A house elf once belonging to Draco Malfoy, and soonafter Harry Potter. Owned a sock.
2. The first, and probably last, free elf.
b. Dobby died being awesome (Here lies Dobby, a free elf.)
c. Dobby rulz
Oct 22, 2008
treeseed a fool, a silly old man, also a kind of spirit. North.The dobbies seem to be similar to Scottish Brownies. They are well described by Washington Irving in his Bracebridge Hall, ed. 1822.
_A Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words, Obsolete Phrases, Proverbs and Ancient Customs, by James Orchard Halliwell-Phillips, 1881 Feb 26, 2008