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boob tube

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noun Informal.
  1. television.
  2. a television set.
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Origin of boob tube

First recorded in 1965–70; rhyming coinage, from the notion that television programming is foolish, induces foolishness, or is watched by foolish people
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

TVtelevisiontelly
British Dictionary definitions for boob tube

boob tube

noun slang
  1. a close-fitting strapless top, worn by women
  2. Australian a strapless, boneless, shapeless brassiere made of a stretch fabric
  3. mainly US and Canadian a television receiver
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for boob tube

n.

"television set," U.S. slang, by 1965, from boob "stupid person" + slang tube (n.) "television, television programming," because the sets really did have vacuum tubes in them once upon a time.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper