nobby

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for December 23, 2023 is: nobby \NAH-bee\ adjective Nobby is a synonym of [chic](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chic#h2) and typically describes people and things that are cleverly stylish. The word is sometimes disapproving in modern use. // The restaurant was a bit too nobby for my tastes, but I did enjoy the food. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nobby) Examples: “If documentaries about famously nobby creatives are your [schtick](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/shtick), you should also bookmark Todd Haynes’s much-lauded The Velvet Underground, which reconsiders the figure of Lou Reed and premiered in the Grand Théâtre Lumière to rapturous applause.” — Hayley Maitland, British Vogue, 16 July 2021 Did you know? Nobby comes from the noun [nob](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nob#h2), which is used in British English to mean “one in a superior position in life.” (This nob may have begun as a slang word for “head,” but a possible connection to [noble](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/noble) has been suggested as well.) Appearing in English in the 18th century, nobby was first used to describe people in society’s upper echelons. In a way similar to that of a more recent coinage, [posh](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/posh), it has extended in usage to describe the places frequented by such people, as well as their genteel customs. Charles Dickens, for example, wrote in his 1853 novel [Bleak House](https://www.britannica.com/topic/Bleak-House) of “[r]especting this unfortunate family matter, and the nobbiest way of keeping it quiet.”