Oveta Culp /kʌlp/Show Spelled Pronunciation[kuhlp]Show IPA, 1905–1995, U.S. newspaper publisher and government official: first director of Women's Army Corps 1942–45; first Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare 1953–55.
1298, "small horse, pony," later "mock horse used in the morris dance," and c.1550 "child's toy riding horse," which led to a transferred sense of "favorite pastime or avocation," first recorded 1676. The connecting notion being "activity that doesn't go anywhere." Probably originally a proper name for a horse (cf. dobbin), a dim. of Robert or Robin.
[hob-ee] 
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