From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishboffinbof‧fin /ˈbɒfɪn $ ˈbɑː-/ noun [countable] British English informal 1 BOHa scientist2 INTELLIGENTsomeone who is very clever He was always a bit of a boffin, even at school. computer boffins
Examples from the Corpus
boffin• This was contrary to the opinion of the world and society which thought of him as a boffin.• Government boffins have been explaining a new weapon that destroys people but leaves houses intact.• Three wore the white coats of the back-room boffin, the fourth was diminutive, little more than a boy.• A few science boffins were asked for their opinions, but otherwise the article gave very little information.• Perhaps the boffins in the boats at Scapa ought to swallow their compassion and get equally coercive with the whales.• The boffin claims to be able to lower bust-up ratios by analysing responses to statements about their lifestyles.• Their boffins used sophisticated hospital scanners to mould the exact shape of Schuey's head to within one-tenth of a millimetre.• Oldfield was never conferred with boffin status, unlike his contemporary, Mr Ambient himself, Brian Eno.computer boffins• The biorhythms program is simple and easy to use for those who know the subject but are not computer boffins. 