BB
Abbreviation with 7 meanings
| Stands for | Base on balls |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 7 |
| Categories | Sports, Medical, Geography & Places, Texting & Internet Slang, Military |
BB has seven meanings. The most common are Base on balls (baseball) and Beta-blocker (drug class); it can also stand for Barbados, Baby (term of endearment), Bye-bye, Battleship and Barbell.
Meanings of BB at a glance
| # | BB stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Base on balls | Sports › Baseball |
| 2 | Beta-blocker | Medical › Drug Class |
| 3 | Barbados | Geography & Places › Country Code |
| 4 | Baby (term of endearment) | Texting & Internet Slang › Dating and Relationship |
| 5 | Bye-bye | Texting & Internet Slang › Texting and Chat |
| 6 | Battleship | Military › Naval Ship |
| 7 | Barbell | Sports › Fitness and Exercise |
1. Base on balls
Sports · Baseball Abbreviations
Free pass to first base given when a pitcher throws four pitches outside the strike zone that the batter does not swing at. Usually called a walk; BB is the scoring abbreviation in box scores.
Example: He worked a full-count BB to load the bases.
Barry Bonds holds the single-season record (232 in 2004) and the career record (2,558). The rule settled at four balls in 1889 after earlier versions required as many as nine. Pitchers' walk rates are expressed as BB/9 or BB%. In fitness, BB is also shorthand for barbell or bodybuilding.
2. Beta-blocker
Medical · Drug Class Abbreviations
Drugs ending in "-olol", such as metoprolol, carvedilol, atenolol and propranolol, that block adrenaline's effects on beta receptors to slow heart rate and lower blood pressure. They are core therapy after heart attacks, in heart failure and for rate control in atrial fibrillation.
Example: HR 112 in AF; resume home BB (metoprolol tartrate 25 mg BID).
Propranolol, developed by James Black, who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize, was the first widely used beta-blocker. Only carvedilol, metoprolol succinate and bisoprolol have proven survival benefit in heart failure. Stopping beta-blockers suddenly can trigger rebound tachycardia and angina. Nonselective agents can worsen asthma.
3. Barbados
Geography & Places · Country Code Abbreviations
Barbados, the easternmost Caribbean island, became a republic on November 30, 2021, replacing the British monarch as head of state. Bridgetown is the capital, and the alpha-3 code is BRB.
Example: Remote workers applying for the Barbados Welcome Stamp entered BB as their country of residence.
The .bb domain is little used outside the island. Rihanna was named a National Hero of Barbados in 2021. Barbados is the birthplace of rum, according to local tradition.
4. Baby (term of endearment)
Texting & Internet Slang · Dating and Relationship Abbreviations
Pet name for a partner, friend or child, as in "night bb" or "miss you bb." Common in texts between couples and close friends.
Example: Night bb, text me when you wake up tomorrow.
In game and group chats, "bb" more often means "bye-bye," so placement and tone separate the two senses. Variants include "bby" and "babe." Strictly informal and personal, never for work messages.
5. Bye-bye
Texting & Internet Slang · Texting and Chat Abbreviations
Quick farewell typed at the end of a chat or online game session. Doubling the B mirrors the spoken "bye-bye," and it is often addressed to a whole channel, as in "bb all."
Example: ok bb everyone, gotta sleep, raid again tomorrow at 8
Between partners, bb more often means "baby," a term of endearment, so read it in context: "night bb" is affectionate, while "bb all" when leaving a game channel is a goodbye. The letters are also a familiar shorthand for the reality show Big Brother.
6. Battleship
Military · Naval Ship Abbreviations
Hull symbol for US battleships, the large, heavily armored gun ships that dominated navies until World War II. The last US battleships, the Iowa class, served until 1992.
Example: USS Missouri (BB-63) hosted the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945.
The Iowa-class ships were reactivated in the 1980s and fired their 16-inch guns and Tomahawk missiles in the 1991 Gulf War. Several, including Missouri and New Jersey, are now museum ships. USS Arizona (BB-39) remains a memorial at Pearl Harbor.
7. Barbell
Sports · Fitness and Exercise Abbreviations
Long bar loaded with weight plates on each end and lifted with both hands, used for squats, deadlifts, bench presses and Olympic lifts. A standard men's Olympic barbell weighs 20 kg (about 45 lb).
Example: Main lift: BB back squat, five sets of five.
Women's Olympic bars weigh 15 kg and are slightly thinner. In bodybuilding forums BB can also mean bodybuilding, and in baseball box scores base on balls (a walk).
Related abbreviations
More baseball abbreviations
- ALCS – American League Championship Series
- ALDS – American League Division Series
- AVG – Batting average
- BABIP – Batting average on balls in play
- BK – Balk
- BS – Blown save
- C – Catcher
- CF – Center fielder
See all 83 baseball abbreviations →
More drug class abbreviations
- ASM – Antiseizure medication
- ASO – Antisense oligonucleotide
- ATD – Antithyroid drug
- BAS – Bile acid sequestrant
- BiTE – Bispecific T-cell engager
- BL/BLI – Beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor
- BTKi – Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor
- BZD – Benzodiazepine
See all 113 drug class abbreviations →
This entry is for general education and is not medical advice. Abbreviation use varies between institutions; always confirm in context.