# boob tube

> English word · Noun

## Definitions
1. A television.
2. A type of woman's upper body garment consisting of a taut band of cloth around the breasts and back.

## Etymology
* (television): An allusion to the idiocy of television programming and the supposed audience for such (boobs) and that the televisions of that era used cathode ray tube (CRT) vacuum tube displays. First use appears c. 1959, in the The Herald Journal.
* (clothing): Due to the clothing being a tube-like garment that covers the breasts (boobs) of a woman. First use appears c. 1977, in the Daily Mail.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-09-03.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/boob-tube