▪ I. knobble, n.
(ˈnɒb(ə)l)
[dim. of knob n. = Du. and LG. knobbel knob, knot: cf. G. knobel (knöbel, knübel) knuckle, knot.]
A small knob.
| a 1485 [see knob n. 1 b quot. 1490]. 1577 Lanc. Wills (1857) II. 92 One standeinge cup..w{supt}{suph}..roses upon the knobble off the cover. 1849 Alb. Smith Pottleton Leg. (repr.) 46, I always endeavour to act right by gentlemen's coals, and wouldn't rob them of a knobble. |
Hence ˈknobbled a., knobbed.
| 1875 [see knobbed, quot. 1839]. |
▪ II. ˈknobble, v. dial. and techn.
[f. knob n.]
a. To knock, etc.: spec. = knap v.1 2, knob v. 3. b. Metallurgy. To shingle; also nobble, q.v.
| 1842–76 Gwilt Archit. (ed. 7) Gloss., Knobbling, knocking off the rough protuberances of hard rock stone at the quarry. 1863–9 Dict. Archit., Knobbling, the term used near London and in the west of England for..reducing a mass of stone in the quarry to a somewhat square block... In flint work it is called ‘knapping’. 1876 Whitby Gloss., Knobble, v. to strike with a club. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Knobble, to hammer; to knock, but not forcibly. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss., Knobbling-fire, a bloomary for refining cast-iron. |