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• bobby
  bobby

  noun

  a policeman.
• Bobby
  Bobby

  noun

  a first name, often a form of Robert or Roberta.

bobby

¹ American  

[bob-ee] / ˈbɒb i /

noun

British Informal.

plural

bobbies

1. a policeman.

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Bobby ² American  

[bob-ee] / ˈbɒb i /

Or Bobbie

noun

1. a first name, often a form of Robert or Roberta.

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bobby British  

/ ˈbɒbɪ /

noun

1. informal a British policeman

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Etymology

Origin of bobby

1835–45; special use of Bobby, for Sir Robert Peel, who set up the Metropolitan Police system of London in 1828

Example Sentences

“It’s a visual of innocence for this girl to wear these grown-up shoes with a heel, and then pair them with these youthful bobby socks,” he explained of Dorothy.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 24, 2025

“Tight as a drum”, was how the local beat bobby described the people on his patch.

From BBC • Aug. 5, 2024

But Schwartz told me that he sees even this kind of damage most often when people use bobby pins or small spatulas to clean their ears.

From Slate • Oct. 15, 2023

“It’s hard to believe there’s bobby pins, a cap and a full head of her own hair under the wig,” McDonald said as he pointed to a photograph of LuPone wearing it.

From New York Times • Nov. 29, 2022

She wore an actual, well, skirt, not one of those short-short ones, and what might have been bobby socks, and looked as though she’d just walked out of my grandparents’ Brooks Brothers catalog.

From "Shelter (Book One): A Mickey Bolitar Novel" by Harlan Coben