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

People routinely reject the O.B.E. and similar honors when they are first offered, including the higher honors of knighthoods and damehoods, which allow people to use the title Sir or Dame.

From New York Times • Jan. 27, 2023

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

To his post Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King promptly appointed McCarthy's assistant, Lester Bowles Pearson, O.B.E., one of the ablest men in Canada's small but expert foreign service.

From Time Magazine Archive

A London carman is said to have summoned his neighbour for calling him an O.B.E.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 158, 1920-01-14 by Seaman, Owen, Sir