adj. (common).—Hearty; in good health and spirits; clever; spruce: cf. BOB, adj. also PRETTY BOBBISH and BOBBISHLY, adv.
1819. SCOTT, in Lockhart, xliv. (1842), 394. I trust you will find me pretty BOBBISH.
1857. DICKENS, The Detective Police, in Reprinted Pieces, 247. ‘Hollo, butcher! is that you?’ ‘Yes, it’s me. How do you find yourself?’ ‘BOBBISH,’ he says.
1860. DICKENS, Great Expectations, iv., 13. Every Christmas Day, he retorted, as he now retorted, ‘It’s no more than your merits. And now are you all BOBBISH, and how’s Sixpennorth of halfpence?’ meaning me.
1881. W. D. HOWELLS, Dr. Breen’s Practice, vii. ‘I did n’t know that I must n’t look downcast. I did n’t suppose it would be very polite, under the circumstances, to go round looking as BOBBISH as I feel.’
