British slang for trouble, bother, or a fight; associated with working-class youth culture and teddy boys.
Cockney/British working-class dialect alteration of 'bother,' recorded from the 1950s-60s. The term became famous through British skinhead and mod subcultures, especially in the phrase 'bovver boys' (troublemakers).
Bovver became iconic through 1970s British youth culture—'bovver boys' in their Dr. Martens boots were the subject of films like 'Clockwork Orange.' The word itself is pure Cockney cockiness: why say 'bother' when you can say 'bovver'?
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