Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. showy.

1843		R.S. Surtees Handley Cross (1854) 273: Thou’s a varra feulish, noisy, gobby, insufficient, ’ard man!
1865		R.S. Surtees Facey Romford’s Hounds 183: The gobby girl then entering the room [...] Miss Cassandra Cleopatra [...] would have passed muster as an exceeedingly showy, handsomely-dressed girl.
1883		Morn. Post (London) 21 June 5/5: They commenced to chaff the crew, and urged the waterman [...] to beat off ‘that old gobby crew’.
1943		D. Vining A Gay Diary (1996) 16 Jan. 317: Huge gobby rings on every finger and lots of swishing going on.

2. greedy.

1958

W. Talsman Gaudy Image (1966) 172: This guy is one of those gobby guys [...] fat like that jerkwater at the club.

3. talkative, esp. in a domineering manner.

1999		Guardian G2 28 June 4: Has he always enjoyed his big-mouth reputation? ‘Actually, I think being gobby’s overrated.’.
2003		N. Griffiths Stump 114: We’d lost, cunt got gobby, I taught him a lesson. Fuckin end of.
2008		Times (London) 16 May 7/4: One of my mates said, ‘Why are you doing it?’ They said, ‘Because she’s been getting gobby at school.’.
2011		Metro 5 Apr. 26/2: [headline] Gobby Cher ‘just wants to be liked’.