abbreviation

bbs

bee-bee-ESS

Bbs (abbreviation) means Be back soon; typed in chat, gaming and messaging to say you are stepping away for a short while. Example: “bbs, someone's at the door.”

abbreviation

informal Be back soon; typed in chat, gaming and messaging to say you are stepping away for a short while.

"bbs, someone's at the door."

"She went bbs about twenty minutes ago."

noun

A bulletin board system: a computer running software that users dialled into by modem to read messages, swap files and play text games, widely used before the World Wide Web.

"He ran a two-line BBS out of his bedroom in 1992."

"The old BBS scene is where a lot of internet culture started."

How to Use Bbs

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishChat shorthand for 'be back soon'.

When to use it

Informal in chat. In writing about computing history, BBS is capitalised and takes 'a' or 'the'.

Memory tip

BRB means back in a minute or two; BBS suggests a slightly longer break.

Trace the full origin ↓

Easily confused with

brb → bbl → afk → BBS (bulletin board system)

Common pairings

bbs in five brb bbs dial-up BBS BBS door game

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Fill the Gap

Can you complete this real example?

_____, someone's at the door.

Etymology

An initialism of be back soon; the computing sense is an initialism of bulletin board system.

Origin: English

Synonyms

View more →

brb be right back afk bulletin board system dial-up board

Related Words

AFK brb

Rhymes for bbs

Abbs Gibbs Hobbs Tubbs Tibbs Stubbs

See all rhymes for bbs →

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between bbs and brb?

Both say you are leaving briefly. BRB, be right back, implies a very short absence of a minute or two. BBS, be back soon, is vaguer and usually means a somewhat longer gap. BBL, be back later, is longer still.

What was a BBS in computing?

It was a computer you dialled directly with a modem, before the web existed, to post on message boards, download files and play text-based games. Most were run by hobbyists, handled only one or a few callers at a time, and served a local phone area.

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