loblolly, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

loblolly n.

also loblolley

[? echoic but note dial. lob, to bubble while boiling, esp. of a thick substance like porridge + Devon dial. lolly, broth, soup or other food boiled in a pot]

1. (also laplolly) a thick gruel, both a peasant and a naut. dish, and also used as a simple medicine; also attrib.

1597		Gerarde Herbal ii xxxv. §2. 242: The lowe countreymen [...] vse it for their meate called Wermose, and with vs Loblollie [OED].
1621		R. Burton Anatomy of Melancholy (1893) II 178: There is a difference (he grumbles) between Laplolly and Pheasants.
1647–50		R. Ligon Hist. of the Island of Barbadoes (1673) 31: This Mayes, [...] by pounding it in a large Mortar, and boyling it in water [...] we call Lob-lollie. But the Negroes, when they come to be fed with this, are much discontented, and cry out, O!O! no more Lob-lol.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Loblolly, any ill-cookt Mess.
1707		N. Ward Wooden World Dissected 64: By due Graduations from the Mystery of Loblolly-making [...] swell him up to a Journey-man.
1725		New Canting Dict. [as cit. c.1698].
1748		Dyche & Pardon New General Eng. Dict. (5th edn).
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Loblolley [...] water gruel prescribed to the sick.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1785].
1818		‘A. Burton’ Adventures of Johnny Newcome I 56: He boarded the Loblolly-boy For rolls.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue [as cit. 1785].
1835		G. Kent Modern Flash Dict. 21: Lob lolly, a queer cooked mess.
1848		Flash Dict. in Sinks of London Laid Open [as cit. 1835].
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1867		W.H. Smyth Sailor’s Word-Bk (1991) 451: Loblolly. A name formerly applied to pottage, burgoo, or gruel.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1888		S.O. Addy Sheffield Gloss. 137: Lob-lolly, thick spoon meat.
1902		S.F. Call 8 June 29/1: Mah Noon is a cook. His soups [...] and loblollies are works of art.

2. a bumpkin, a peasant, a boor; also attrib.

1604		N. Breton Grimello’s Fortunes in Grosart (1879) II 9/1: This lob-lollie with slavering lips would be making loue, and that not only, but eurie daie one.
1675		C. Cotton Scoffer Scoff’d (1765) 213: Whilst he not dreaming of thy Folly, / Lies gaping like a great Lob-lolly.
1710		C. Shadwell Fair Quaker of Deal I i: Our Rogue of a loblolly Doctor, being not satisfied with his twopences, must have a Note for ten months pay for every Cure.
1850		J.C. Neal Pic-nic Sketches 45: I was a loblolly know-nothing.

3. (W.I.) a weakling.

1826

C.R. Williams Tour through [...] Jamaica 110: Sneezer, you lie [...] you good for nutten, wibble wobble loblolly.

4. (US) a mud hole.

1865		Memphis Dly Argus (TN) 19 Nov. 3/1: We noticed a party of two or three men attempting to clean off one of them but as fast as they cleaned away the lob-lolly, the lob-lolly rolled back again .
1906		O.W. Hanley ‘Dialect Words From Southern Indiana’ in DN III:ii 120: loblolly, n. A mud hole; ooze, half liquid.
1912		R.W. Brown ‘Word-List From Western Indiana’ in DN III:viii 582: loblolly. n. Slushy mud. ‘The hogs have made a perfect loblolly around the watering trough.’.
1916		L. Pound ‘Word-List From Nebraska’ in DN IV:iv 277: loblolly, n. Bog, mudhole. ‘That road’s a regular loblolly’.
1921		Richmond Dly Register (KY) 24 Feb. 4/3: The girl hand’t gone a hundred yards before she fell prone in a perfect loblolly of mud and water.

5. (US) a fat child.

1970

in DARE.

In compounds

loblolly boy (n.) (also loblolly man, loplolly boy)

a ‘jack of all trades’, an errand boy, orig. in a naval context.

1748		Smollett Roderick Random (1979) 154: I not only suffered from the rude insults of sailors and petty officers, among whom I was known by the name of Loblolly Boy.
1776		Patent, a Poem [Note] Lob-lolly boy is a person who on board of a man-of-war attends the surgeon and one who knows just as much of the business of a seaman as the author of this poem [F&H].
a.1790		C. Dibdin ‘The Letter Nin Songs 1 (1842) 216/1: ‘Up from a loblolly-boy none was so cute — of knowing things’.
1805		J. Davis Post Captain (1813) 4: Send all the idlers up [...] doctor’s mates and loblolly boys.
1829		D. Jerrold Black-Ey’d Susan II i: She’s built of green timber, manned with loplolly [sic] boys and marines; provisioned with mouldy biscuit and bilge water.
1830		W.H. Williams Wreck II ii: Here’s a fleet of petticoats, and a fire-ship running down a loblolly-boy!
1831		Navy at Home I 68: That loplolly boy of yours has just upset the poultice saucepan.
1841		W.J. Neale Paul Periwinkle 506: Simmons, who acts as a sort of loblolly boy for me, must needs get as drunk this evening as the rest, and I [...] set on him a little cross-examination, and got out of the maudlin dolt the whole story.
1848		Sam Sly 30 Dec. 2/3: We would advise C—es N—th, C—er’s loblolly-boy, not to be talking so much about his cousin S—y getting married.
1873		W.H. Thomes Slaver’s Adventures 17: A loblolly boy will pass for a navigator, if he has a cargo of gold in his pockets.
1880		R. Rowe Picked Up in the Streets 194: He was an assistant in a chemist’s shop [...] sometimes they called him ‘Lob-lolly boy’.
1887		H. Caine Deemster I 220: ‘Don’t mind the loblolly boys, Davy,’ he said coaxingly.
1897		Star (Canterbury) 24 Apr. 2/5: I fluked into a chnace to work a passage as fifteenth steward’s loblolly boy on board one of the White Star boats.
1902		W.A. Sun. Times (Perth) 19 Jan. 1/1: Trouble is brewing at Karrakatta over the appointment of loblollyboy lieutenants [...] the men object to be roused on by incompetent martial manikins.
1908		G. Seagram Bushmen All 59: You! What are yer? A blasted flunky, a loblolly boy.
1976		J. Braine Waiting for Sheila (1977) 125: There’s no anaesthetic except rum, and the loblolly men are holding me down.