nobby

comparative nobbier · superlative nobbiest

1. UKinformalWealthy or of high social position; of or pertaining to a nob (person of great wealth or social standing).

   I'll come back in the course of the evening, if agreeable to you, and endeavor to meet your wishes respecting this unfortunate family matter, and the nobbiest way of keeping it quiet.

   c. 1852-1853, Charles Dickens, edited by Levi C. Goodale and Charlie Lulledge, Works of Charles Dickens: Bleak House, published 1876, page 106

   1 more example

   "[…]What makes it worse,” she continued, in the extremity of confidence, “I heard those two cricketing men say just now, 'She's the nobbiest girl on the boat.' But I don't mind it, you know, Harry."

   1873, Thomas Hardy, A Pair of Blue Eyes, page 291

2. USinformalFashionable or chic.

   1925 April 11, Busybody, "Jottings About Town", in The New Yorker, page 25, Quite nobby are the suitings appearing on some of our better Fifth Avenue young men.

   2 more examples

   Undertaking?—why it's the dead-surest business in Christendom, and the nobbiest.

   1883, Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, published 2007, page 152

   Alcibiades, was the nobbiest boy in Greece.

   1933, Josephine Herbst, Pity Is Not Enough, page 37

   Synonyms: classy

1. A diminutive of the male given name Norbert.

   Nobby Stiles Norbert is a moniker one normally doesn't associate with one of the game's most intimidating midfielders, but "Nobby" provided the steel for the England side that prevailed in the 1966 World Cup, and his gap-toothed visage would have earned him a guest spot in the movie Halloween.

   2009, Jeff Carlisle, Soccer's Most Wanted II, Potomac Books, Inc., →ISBN, page 234

2. A diminutive of the female given name Zenobia.

   There's Nobby, now―here he indicates Zenobia with his pipe―"as has 'ad a whole cartload o' troubles, besides me a riding on the shafts, an' that's bad enough, an't it, Nobby?"

   1855, Watts Phillips, The Wild Tribes of London, page 49

1. Nickname for a person with the surname Clark or Clarke.