Meaning of Herbert | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A working-class youth, especially male.
   slang
2. A male given name from the Germanic languages, in modern use partly transferred back from the surname.
3. A foolish or contemptible person, especially male.
   slang
4. A surname originating as a patronymic.
5. A small town in North Otago, New Zealand.
6. A rural locality in Litchfield Municipality, Northern Territory, Australia.
7. A former government town in South Australia.
8. A town in the Rural Municipality of Morse No. 165, Saskatchewan, Canada.
9. An unincorporated community in Boone County, Illinois, United States.

Equivalents

Examples

“Herbert, Sydney, Milton, Seymour. You know, all the time I was growing up I thought those were the most ordinary Jewish first names, until someone pointed out that they were British last names. I guess to my great-grandparents those names must have sounded so modern, so sophisticated, so - non-Eastern European. And now they're just Uncle Miltie, Uncle Sy, Uncle Herb. Do other people have Uncle Donne and Uncle Wordsworth?”

“To be clear what we're talking about, read Cronon's piece. He offers a great introduction to the concept, and its originator, Herbert Butterfield.”

“And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me.”

“It was the Ulster Annual Jamboree. For weeks past, hundreds of spotty-faced herberts, with yodelling voices and chin fuzz, had tied three million knots, started ten thousand twig fires, and completed six hundred leaf fires; perfect training for round about 3000BC but bloody useless in the twentieth century.”

“[…] everything was busy now with the usual mix of herberts, and because this was Brunel University there was a lot of students, the sort who wouldn't normally go see a punk band […]”

“Because of my appearance, I was accosted by a couple of spotty herberts on the way […]”

“I was a proto-hippy in '66 - '67 and by about August '67 the bandwagon jumpers, the media and all manner of assorted herberts had turned up to spoil everything.”

“Into this haunted house stumble a couple of modern-day herberts, Alison and Mike (Charlotte Ritchie and Kiell Smith-Bynoe). They have inherited Button Hall after the last of the Button family died. When they arrive to take stock of the place, the unseen ghosts mill around the couple in the great hall - and some don't like what they see. "She's exposing her knees! And she's got a tattoo! exclaims the buttoned-up Edwardian Lady Button.”

“For quotations using this term, see Citations:herbert.”

CEFR level