O.B.E.

American  

abbreviation

1. Officer (of the Order) of the British Empire.

2. Order of the British Empire.

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OBE British  

abbreviation

1. Officer of the Order of the British Empire (a Brit title)

2. out-of-body experience

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Example Sentences

In the bathroom at the back of the studio, there’s a stash of awards, including an O.B.E. from the Queen.

From The New Yorker • Mar. 28, 2016

Offered an O.B.E. by Tony Blair’s government in 2003, the poet Benjamin Zephaniah responded, “Stick it, Mr. Blair and Mrs. Queen.”

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2012

A former associate dean at the Harvard Business School, Mr. Quelch, who also served as dean of the London Business School, was in Britain in December to collect an O.B.E. from Queen Elizabeth.

From New York Times • Jan. 1, 2012

Brigadier at war's end, he emerged with the O.B.E. for services in invasion planning.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had met them by chance and he found that Mr. Pendean had not shirked but done good work in the war and got the O.B.E.

From The Red Redmaynes by Phillpotts, Eden