O.B.E.

American  

abbreviation

1. Officer (of the Order) of the British Empire.

2. Order of the British Empire.

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OBE British  

abbreviation

1. Officer of the Order of the British Empire (a Brit title)

2. out-of-body experience

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Example Sentences

People routinely reject the O.B.E. and similar honors when they are first offered, including the higher honors of knighthoods and damehoods, which allow people to use the title Sir or Dame.

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2023

In the bathroom at the back of the studio, there’s a stash of awards, including an O.B.E. from the Queen.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 28, 2016

Offered an O.B.E. by Tony Blair’s government in 2003, the poet Benjamin Zephaniah responded, “Stick it, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen.”

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2012

This time, for rather the same reason, Her Majesty named fab Fashion Designer Mary Quant, 32, doyenne of the Chelsea group's knee-baring, hippy styles, as an officer of the O.B.E.

From Time Magazine Archive

If my efforts result in even one house being erected I shall, I think, have earned my O.B.E., though I would rather have the house.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 159, August 18th, 1920 by Various