BB
noun
a size of shot, 0.18 inch (0.46 centimeter) in diameter, fired from an air rifle or BB gun.
BB
1 American
[bee-bee]
/ ˈbiˌbi /
noun
-
a size of shot, 0.18 inch (0.46 centimeter) in diameter, fired from an air rifle or BB gun.
-
Also called BB shot. shot of this size.
BB
2
American
bb.
3
American
abbreviation
-
ball bearing.
-
Baseball. base on balls; bases on balls.
B/B
4
American
b.b.
5
American
abbreviation
-
bail bond.
-
baseboard.
B.B.
6
American
abbreviation
-
bail bond.
-
Blue Book.
-
B'nai B'rith.
-
Bureau of the Budget.
BB
1
British
abbreviation
symbol
bb
2
British
abbreviation
Usage
What else does bb mean? In text messages and online, bb can be short for baby, especially as it's used as a term of endearment for significant others or friends. In this sense, it can sometimes be pronounced as [bey-bee]. Bb can also be short for quite a few other things, including basketball, bye-bye, the pellets of a BB gun, and some NSFW applications.
Etymology
Origin of BB
An Americanism dating back to 1870–75
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Toy guns, water guns, and BB guns all pose real dangers, especially to an untrained eye,” the Police Department said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026
But once he explains that he technically works at the company that owns QNX, he knows exactly how they will respond: BlackBerry BB 0.14%increase; green up pointing triangle still exists?
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 2, 2026
BB said she had stopped the car after passing Oki - and that all three men had gone to talk to her.
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
It inspire Simone de Beauvoir in 1960 to say, "BB now deserves to be considered an export product as important as Renault automobiles."
From Barron's ● Dec. 28, 2025
We were going to take our lunches and all, and our BB guns--we were kids and all, and we thought we could shoot something with our BB guns.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
Gave them a bb. of beef and a bb. of pork.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
Opened a bb. of beef and tierce of Bread. the people was394 put to Allowance for the 1st time, one lb. of Beef per man a day and 7 lb. of bread per week.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
Opened a bb. of Beef and a bb. of bread.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
Opened a bb. pork and a bb. flowr.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
Opened a bb. of beef and 1 tierce of bread. the two Men that had signed the day before had Arms Given them.
From Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period Illustrative Documents by J. Franklin (John Franklin) Jameson
Currently touring for Father John Misty's second album "I Love You Honeybear," Josh Tillman stopped by b.b. gun leather in Vancouver to present his version of "The Suburbs" inside the leatherworkers' office.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2015
In the same city a doctor pulled down a ten-year-old boy's eyelid preparatory to operating for the removal of a b.b. shot.
From Time Magazine Archive
The fyve Bokes of Moses, wythe the Prologes of Wyllyam Tyndale, b.b.
From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Thomas Frognall Dibdin
Its flagship store on Sunset Boulevard became a destination, with a “Rockwalk” featuring handprints of stars including B.B.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
Bardot - or B.B. as she was known in France - campaigned against the annual seal cull in Canada, and irritated some of her countrymen by condemning the eating of horse meat.
From BBC ● Dec. 28, 2025
His mother — a singer — and his stepfather — who played guitar for B.B.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025
This lesson is embedded in the official “Sinners” Spotify playlist curated by Göransson and Coogler, which travels from the soundtrack to the earliest Delta blues recordings through B.B.
From Salon ● May 2, 2025
The next thing I can vaguely recall is living in Fort Bragg, Calif. My brother had been presented a B.B. gun.
From "In Cold Blood" by Truman Capote
“I picture it as a late night with your bb, up all night just the two of you in your room, dancing together and tuning out the world.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2025
You might claim to be a gun owner, but a bb gun as a kid does not count.
From Time ● May 2, 2013
But one of the commenters quickly laid out the problem. call me when you have access to android market via bb world. no apps= failure. that is why nobody wants a bb.
From Forbes ● Sep. 16, 2011
Bb women reached this fracture threshold four years later, and those carrying bb genes not until 29 years after menopause.
From Time Magazine Archive
It ran: times 3.12.83 reporting bb dayorder doubleplusungood refs unpersons rewrite fullwise upsub antefiling.
From "1984" by George Orwell
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
