Meanings
nounloblolly boy (plural loblolly boys)
plural loblolly boys
- historicalIn 18th- and 19th-century warships, a non-professional (male) assistant to the ship's surgeon.
[T]he carpenter repairing masts and plugging dangerous leaks in the hull, the surgeon attending to the sick. (His helpers were known as loblolly boys, for the porridge they served.)
2023, David Grann, chapter 2, in The Wager, Doubleday, page 39
Origin
From loblolly in the sense of gruel made with seaworthy ingredients.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
loblolly boy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loblolly%20boy
MLA
“loblolly boy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loblolly%20boy. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “loblolly boy,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/loblolly%20boy.
Source: loblolly boy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.