Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (US, also bub) a brother.

1864		in N.C. Delaney John Mackintosh Kell 152: Poor papa, so far away from his little girl and mama and bubbers.
1890		Bulletin (Sydney) 30 Aug. 21/3: There are fifty-thousand ‘whalers’ about without a foot of land, / There are twice five-hundred squatters hold Australia in their hand? / Did you ever hear of Jacob? how he played that little game / With his pottage and the birthright of Bub Esau? / That’s the same.
1958		G. Lea Somewhere There’s Music 73: His smiling ‘bubber’ was the equivalent to Gene’s ‘bruz’; Mike wasn’t sure he wanted to be William’s brother.
2008		J. Lansdale Leather Maiden 72: ‘How do you feel about losing her? ’ ‘You’re hitting low, bubba’.

2. (US) a generic term for an uneducated Southern male.

1949		C. Himes ‘Mama’s Missionary Money’ in Coll. Stories (1990) 317: Bubber’s ma kept him in ’cause he was feeling a little sick.
1958		(sung in 1936) Hughes & Bontemps Book of Negro Folklore 348: Taxi, taxi, taxi, / Drive me to Tennessee. / He said, Drive me, bubber, / ’Cause the dicks is after me.
1976		P. Conroy Great Santini (1977) 174: And just what if I don’t let go, bubba.
1993		(con. 1969) N.L. Russell Suicide Charlie 212: Greasers, hippies, surfers, and Bubbas, we all looked like overgrown infants as we marched off to an auditorium for a battery of personality tests.
2002		No Nonsense Self Defence 🌐 Bubba, however doesn’t give a shit. When he decides it is time to fight, he is going to try to climb your frame. And he doesn’t care how he does it.
2015		P. Beatty Sellout (2016) 178: Bubba the redneck, a nigger, and a Mexican are sitting at the same bus stop.
2020		D. Winslow ‘Broken’ in Broken 2: He once wrecked—wrecked—an entire crew of bubbas who [...] got rude in [...] Jimmy’s neighborhood bar.

3. (Aus./US black, also bubbo) a young child.

1935		X. Petulengro Romany Life 209: She told me of her mother and said her father [...] had gone away when she was a bubbo.
1980		J.L. Gwaltney Drylongso 232: Now, Bubba, this is the land and that is the sea.
1982		N. Keesing Lily on the Dustbin 47: Those of the Dr Spock generation consciously scorned old-fashioned usages [...] Babies were babies, not ‘bubbas’.

4. (also bub) a general term of address to an un-named male.

1922		(con. late 19C) A. Gonzales Black Border 61: Wey you gwine, bubbah?
1974		P. Gent North Dallas Forty 163: Hey, Bubba, did you hear Uncle Billy this morning?
1987		‘Joe Bob Briggs’ Joe Bob Goes to the Drive-In 28: Hey, Bubba, what happened to Joe Bob?
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 144: Don’t kid yourself, bubba.
2000		F.X. Toole Rope Burns 89: You’re wrong, bubba. Just knowin her’s been enough.
2000		P. Temple Dead Point (2008) [ebook] You know, bubba [...] Tell me now. Quick.
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 112: ‘What kinda fuckin’ criminal is this woman [...]’ ‘A smart one, bub. A real, fuckin’ smart one.’.
2006		G. Iles Turning Angel 108: That’s no mystery, bubba.

5. a fat man.

1992		R. Rudolph Boys from New Jersey 198: Even sex was available – and not the usual jailhouse kind where Big Bubba decides to cornhole some unfortunate ninety-pound object of his affections .
2001		J. King White Trash 66: I’m a big fat bubba who needs to lose six stone.