Meanings
plural bobby pins · alternative bobbypin
- USA type of double-pronged hairpin.
Her pinned-up hairdo was drooping and she shed two bobby pins on the floor.
2014, Janet Cantrell, chapter 7, in Fat Cat at Large, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 581 more example
[H]e still didn't like looking down the drain. The brass cross-hatch inside that was supposed to catch things like clots of hair or dropped bobby-pins had disappeared years ago, and so there was only a dark hole rimmed by a circle of tarnished steel.
1990, Stephen King, The Moving FingerSynonyms: hairgrip, kirby grip
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA type of double-pronged hairpin.
More synonyms by meaning
nouna flat wire hairpin whose prongs press tightly together; used to hold bobbed hair in place
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
From bob haircut, which the bobby pin was designed to keep under control.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
bobby pin. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bobby%20pin
“bobby pin.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bobby%20pin. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bobby pin,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bobby%20pin.
Source: bobby pin on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.