Wobbly

See also: wobbly

English

Alternative forms

• wobbly

Etymology

Unknown

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwɒb(ə)li/

Noun

Wobbly (plural Wobblies)

1. A member of the Industrial Workers of the World, a militant, radical labor union. [from 20th c.]

   Synonym: (slang) Wob

   • 1929, Dashiell Hammett, chapter 1, in Red Harvest‎^[1]:

     The gray man didn’t think I had any right to the card I had showed him, nor to the other one I had mentioned. He didn’t think I was a good wobbly. As chief muckademuck of the I. W. W. in Personville, he considered it his duty to get the low-down on me, and to not let himself be pumped about radical affairs while he was doing it.

   • 1985, Peter Carey, Illywhacker, Faber and Faber, published 2003, page 318:

     I drew myself up taller. I gave a beautiful account of my career with the Wobblies.

See also

• IWW

Anagrams

• Bowlby, blow-by, blowby, by-blow, byblow