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Definition cob

Etymology 1

Of uncertain origin. The word has many disparate senses, which are likely of diverse origin. The specifics of these origins have long been debated, as has the question of which senses arise from which origins. At least the swan sense originated in Middle English cobbe (“male swan; gang leader; bully”). Some other senses likely originated as a variant of cop (“head, top, peak, summit”). In other senses, the word may be related to cub, itself of obscure origin but possibly from Old Norse kobbi (“seal”). However, many alternative etymologies have been proposed to account for some or all senses of cob; various sources have related it, for example, to English cot (“cottage”), Welsh cob (“top, tuft”), or German Kübel (“large container”). All these etymologies are disputed, and the exact origins of cob cannot be known with any certainty.

Noun

cob (countable and uncountable, plural cobs)

1. A male swan.
2. A corncob.
3. (Midlands) A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread.
4. Clipping of cobnut.
5. (uncountable) A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
6. A horse having a stout body and short legs.
7. (East Anglia) A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
8. Any of the gold and silver coins that were minted in the Spanish Empire and valued in reales or escudos, such as the piece of eight—especially those which were crudely struck and irregularly shaped.
9. A Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth about four shillings and sixpence.
10. (obsolete) One who is eminent, great, large, or rich.
11. A spider.
12. A small fish, the miller's thumb.
13. A large fish, especially the kabeljou (variant spelling of kob).
14. (obsolete) The head of a herring.
15. The top or head of anything.
16. A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, or stone.
17. A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood.
18. (music, historical) A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.

Verb

cob (third-person singular simple present cobs, present participle cobbing, simple past and past participle cobbed)

1. To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent.
2. Of growing corn, to have the heads mature into corncobs.

Etymology 2

Uncertain. Possibly onomatopoeic, but it has also been suggested that the word could be a continuation of Middle English cobbe (“fight”), a borrowing of Welsh cob (“blow”), or a cognate of Icelandic kubba (“chop”).

Verb

cob (third-person singular simple present cobs, present participle cobbing, simple past and past participle cobbed)

1. To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.
2. (Northern UK, possibly colloquial) To throw, chuck, lob.
3. To chip off unwanted pieces of stone, so as to form a desired shape or improve the quality of mineral ore.

Etymology 3

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