Meanings
nounbabery (uncountable)
- obsoleteuncountableFinery of a kind to please a child.
So have I seen trim books in velvet dight, / With golden leaves, and painted babery / Of silly boys, please unacquainted sight.
The New Arcadia
a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London: […] [John Windet] for William Ponsonbie, published 1590, →OCLC
Origin
Perhaps originally for baboonery. Compare baboon, and also babe.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
babery. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/babery
MLA
“babery.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/babery. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “babery,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/babery.
Source: babery on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.