▪ I. † lob, n.1 Obs.
[OE. lobbe wk. fem.; cf. loppe, lop n.]
A spider.
| c 1000 Lamb. Ps. lxxxix. 10 (Bosw.) Ure ᵹær swa swa lobbe [Vulg. sicut aranea] oððe rynge beoþ asmeade. a 1325 Prose Psalter xxxviii. 15 Þou madest his soule to stumblen as a lob [Vulg. sicut araneam]. Ibid. lxxxix. 10 Our yeres shal þenchen as þe lob. |
▪ II. lob, n.2
(lɒb)
Also 6–7 lobbe, 9 lobb.
[Perh. onomatopœic in origin. Several Teut. words of similar sound express the general notion of something heavy, clumsy, or loosely pendent: cf. e.g. EFris. lob(be hanging lump of flesh, MLG. and early mod.Du. lobbe, lubbe (mod.Du. lob, lubbe) hanging lip, also ruffle, hanging sleeve, Da. lobbes clown, bumpkin, Norw. lubb, lubba short stout person.]
† 1. The pollack. Obs. (Cf. lob-keeling.)
| 1357 Act 31 Edw. III, Stat. 3 c. 2 Les trois sortz de lob, lyng, & cod. 1607 Cowell Interpr., Lobbe is a great kind of north sea fish. 1727 in Bailey vol. II. 1769 Pennant Zool. III. 161. |
2. A country bumpkin: a clown, lout. Now dial.
| 1533 Image Ypocr. 1645 To prove oure prelates goddes And lay men very lobbes. Ibid. 2275 Frier bib, ffrier bob, ffrier lib, ffrier lob. 1550 Lever Serm. (Arb.) 65 The rude lobbes of the countrey, whiche be to symple to paynte a lye. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 16 Farewell thou Lob of spirits, Ile be gon. 1603 Dekker Wonderfull Yeare D iij, The sight of a flat-cap was dreadfull to a Lob. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xvii. ix. 91 One that, under the shew of wisedome and learning, was a very lob and foole. 1658 Cleveland Rustick Rampant Wks. (1687) 456 William Greyncob an Hind... This Lob too was made principal Prolocutor. 1694 Motteux Rabelais iv. xlvii, The Country Lob trudg'd home very much concern'd. 1854 W. Gaskell Lectures Dial. 13 We sometimes hear a heavy clumsy man called ‘a great lob of a felley’. |
3. Something pendulous, e.g. the wattles of a fowl, hanging blossoms or ornaments, etc. rare.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury II. 245/2 The Cock of the Mountain..hath..about the cheeks two red fleshy lobs or gills. 1876 Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly (1877) 3 Immense steel spurs, inlaid with silver filigree, and furnished with ‘lobs’ attached to them. |
4. A lump, a large piece: a nugget (of gold); a ‘lump’ (of money). Chiefly dial.
| 1825–80 Jamieson, Lub, a thing heavy and unwieldy. Dumfr. 1843 W. Carleton Traits Irish Peasantry I. 8 Any how we'll gain a lob by it, I'm thinking. 1847 Halliwell, Lob..(2) A very large lump. Linc. 1863 Once a week III. 535 (Farmer) He must have a regular lob of gold stowed away somewhere. 1884 Rogers New Rush i. 5 Imagine future ‘lobs’ of which they share. |
5. Brewing. A thick mixture (see quot.).
For the sense cf. loblolly, lobscouse.
| 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 103 When the wort is discharged into the gyle-tun, it must receive its dose of yeast, which has been previously mixed with a quantity of wort, and left in a warm place till it has begun to ferment. This mixture, called lobb, is then to be put into the tun, and stirred well through the mass. |
6. attrib. and Comb., as lob-like adj. and adv.; † lob-coat = lobcock; lob grass dial., Bromus mollis; lob-tailing vbl. n. and ppl. a. (see quots.); so lob-tail v. intr.
| 1604 Wit of a Woman (Comedy) G 3 b, My bush and my pot, cares not a groate, for such a *lob-coate, farewell. |
| 1756 Lisle Observ. Husb. (1757) 72 The grass which country-people call the hooded-grass, or *lob-grass, is apparently of but little value. |
| 1605 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Abraham 589 He yawns; and leaning-on His (*Lob-like) elbow hears This Message don. 1611 Cotgr., Enlourdi, growne dull, sotish, lumpish, heauie-headed, lob-like. |
| 1933 B. Willoughby Alaskans All 134 Nearby, a third [whale] would pop up and ‘*lob-tail’—that is stand on its head with its tail out flaying the sea with thundering blows that sent clouds of spray in every direction. |
| 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xliv. 298 Five great motions are peculiar to it [sc. the tail of a whale]... Fourth, in *lob⁓tailing. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Lob-tailing, the act of the sperm whale in violently beating the water with its tail. 1899 F. T. Bullen Idylls Sea xii. 75 It sounded..as if an extra large whale were ‘lob-tailing’—i.e. poised in the water head downwards, and striking deliberate blows upon its surface with his mighty flukes. 1937 Discovery Oct. 310/1 In ‘lobtailing’, it [sc. the cachalot] stands on its head with its tail some thirty feet out of the sea. |
7. attrib. passing into adj. Rustic; clownish, loutish; clumsy. Also appos. as quasi-proper name.
| 1508 Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen 387, I wes laith to be loppin with sic a lob avoir. 1593 ‘P. Foulface’ Bacchus Bountie A 4, The Beziladistes, those deuout doctors of Lob libers canne. 1603 H. Crosse Vertues Commw. (1878) 82 It is a world of sport to heare how some such clouting beetles rowle in their loblogicke. 1613 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle iii. iv, There's a pretty tale of a Witch,.. that had a Giant to her sonne, that was cal'd Lob-lie-by-the-fire. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxv. 116 Grouthead gnat-snappers, lob-dotterels, gaping changelings [etc.]. 1873 J. H. Ewing Lob Lie-by-the-Fire Introd. 3 Lob Lie-by-the-fire—the Lubber-fiend, as Milton calls him—is a rough kind of Brownie or House Elf. 1879 G. Meredith Egoist I. Prelude 4 They lump along like the old lob-legs of Dobbin the horse. |
▪ III. lob, n.3 Mining.
(lɒb)
Also lobb.
pl. Steps in a mine. Also applied to an irregular vein of ore resembling a flight of steps.
| 1681 Houghton Compl. Miner (E.D.S.), Lobs, steps that ascend or descend within the mines, as stairs up to and down from a chamber. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. M j b, When we drive Dipping downwards, we go by Stairs or Lobbs so as the diping requires. 1769 Nat. Hist. in Ann. Reg. 99/1 The descent is about 160 yards, through different lodgments, by ladders, lobs, and cross-pieces of timber let into the rock. 1851 Tapping Manlove's Lead Mines Gloss. 28 Also when the ore in a vein does not go down perpendicularly, but only a few yards at once, then level for a yard or two, and then sets down again, such veins are called lobbs. |
▪ IV. lob, n.4 Thieves' slang.
(lɒb)
Also lobb.
A box; a till.
| 1718 C. Higgin True Discov. 15 (Farmer) A wedge lobb, alias gold or silver snuff-box. 1753 Discov. John Poulter (ed. 2) 39 A Lobb full of Glibbs, a Box full of Ribbons. 1812 J. H. Vaux Flash Dict., Lob, a till or money-drawer. 1868 Temple Bar XXIV. 537 ‘Lob’ means the till. |
b. Comb.: lob-crawler, a till-thief; lob-crawling, -sneaking, robbing tills.
| 1887 J. W. Horsley Jottings from Jail 25 Poor old Jim, the *lob crawler, fell from Racker and got pinched. |
| 1894 A. Morrison Tales Mean Streets 259 Scuddy made a comfortable living in the several branches of *lob-crawling and peter claiming. |
| 1868 Temple Bar XXIV. 537 Stealing the till and opening the safe is what we call ‘*lob-sneaking’ and ‘Peter-screwing’. |
▪ V. lob, n.5 Games.
(lɒb)
[f. lob v.]
1. Cricket. A slow underhand ball.
| 1851 J. Pycroft Cricket Field ix. 178 Practise high lobs—a most useful variety of ball. 1875 Times 29 June 12/1 At 67 Mr. Greenfield tried three overs of lobs. 1882 Daily Tel. 20 May, Humphreys tried his lobs once more, and got rid of Garrett almost directly. 1891 W. G. Grace Cricket 250 An article on bowling would not be complete without some reference to slow underhand, or, to use the familiar word, ‘lobs’. |
| attrib. 1865 F. Lillywhite Guide to Cricketers 59 A good lob-bowler and excellent long-stop. 1871 ‘Thomsonby’ Cricketers in Council 40 The best lob bowlers by a mere turn of the wrist impart an enormous amount of twist to the ball. Ibid., ‘Lob’ bowling is, we believe, rather undervalued at the present day. 1883 Standard 3 Aug. 6/5 Preston made a very poor show..against the lob bowling of Mr. Walker. 1888 Steel & Lyttelton Cricket (Badm. Libr.) 160 Every bats⁓man..knows the danger of playing wildly at under-hand ‘lobs’{ddd}Occasional mistakes are made, no doubt, when an unexpected lob bowler appears. |
2. Lawn-tennis. (See quot.) Also attrib. in lob-volley.
| 1890 Heathcote Tennis (Badm. Libr.) 238 When a lob is about to drop near the base-line it is now generally returned either by the ‘lob-volley’.., which is a defensive stroke, or the player runs back and returns it again with a lob. Ibid. 242 The ‘lob’ is a ball tossed high in the air, and, if possible, over the opponent's head... As a ‘toss’ it was known and tolerated long before it was condemned as a ‘lob’. Ibid. 245 The service, the stroke off the ground, the volley, the half-volley, and the lob. |
▪ VI. lob, v.
(lɒb)
Inflected lobbed (lɒbd), lobbing.
[f. lob n.2]
† 1. intr. To behave like a ‘lob’ or lout. Obs.
| 1596 J. Smyth in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden) 92 There is no man that doth well knowe mee, that will beeleeve that I would (if I had not been distempered by surfett and drinke) ryde lobbinge and dawinge to rayle at your Lordship. |
2. trans. To cause or allow to hang heavily; to droop. ? Obs. exc. slang.
| 1599 Shakes. Hen. V, iv. ii. 57 Their poore Iades Lob downe their heads, dropping the hides and hips. 1821 Egan Real Life in Lond. I. 187 The dancing party..were lobbing their lollys [= heads] on..the table. |
3. a. intr. To move heavily or clumsily; to walk along with a slow lumbering movement. Of a cabman: To ‘crawl’ or ‘prowl’ in search of a fare.
| 1819 Paul Bobbin Sequel 21 (E.D.D.) So off I lobb'd. 1843 Blackw. Mag. LIII. 81 Keeping a sharp look-out for any night cabman who may be ‘lobbing’, as the phrase is, off his stand. 1847 Halliwell s.v., To lob along, to walk loungingly. 1849 E. E. Napier Excurs. S. Africa II. 363 The lion..may next be seen lobbing up some open grassy ascent. [1865: see lobbing vbl. n.] 1887 L. Oliphant Episodes 86 The enemy's shells came lobbing into it [the trench]. 1898 Blackw. Mag. Dec. 744/1 Our ponies..lobbing and lurching through the heavy sand. |
b. to lob (in), to arrive. Austral. slang.
| 1916 C. J. Dennis Songs Sentimental Bloke 56 'Twas at a beano where I lobs along To drown them memories o' fancied wrong. Ibid. 125 To lob, to arrive. 1934 Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Dec. 25/2 Scrubby lobs in one sundown while Old Dave is over with the storekeeper. 1950 K. S. Prichard Winged Seeds ii. 24 You never knew who'd lob into the camp. 1970 Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 5 July 30/5 When they had 15 pines on board, the farmer lobbed on the scene. |
4. a. trans. To throw heavily or clumsily; to toss or bowl with a slow movement. In Lawn-tennis, to strike (a ball) well into the air so as to fall at the back of the opponent's court; also absol.
| 1847 Halliwell, Lob. (1) To throw gently. Sussex... (7) To cast or throw. Durham. 1880 Maitland in Encycl. Brit. XI. 313/2 Suppose..that shell are being lobbed from behind a parapet at high angles into a work. 1884 Mil. Engineering (ed. 3) I. ii. 70 Sandbags..which are pulled down one by one, and..lobbed over the others by hand. 1889 W. M. Brownlee Lawn-Tennis 141 If you can lob at a good pace just over his head, you may beat him altogether, and score. Ibid. 142 Sweet..lobbed to him six balls in succession. 1891 R. Kipling Life's Handicap 87 Martini-Henri carbines that would lob a bullet into an enemy's camp at one thousand yards. |
b. To send (a player) a lobbed ball.
| 1921 A. W. Myers 20 Yrs. Lawn Tennis 135 Having discovered the wisdom of lobbing Barrett, Hackett..allowed McLoughlin to kill anything smashable. 1928 Daily Tel. 5 June 17/1 As soon as one is certain of not being lobbed. 1972 D. Delman Sudden Death (1973) vi. 170 He lunges for the backhand volley... He is off balance, out of position, and I lob him wickedly. |
5. Brewing. To add ‘lob’ (see lob n.2 5) to (wort).
| 1838 [see lobbing vbl. n.]. |
6. Metallurgy. (See quot.)
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., Lobbing (Metallurgy), breaking blocks of ore into pieces with the hammer, for assortment as to quality with such ores as copper, and for more effectual treatment in the preparatory roasting or calcining processes. |
Hence lobbed ppl. a.
| 1883 Pall Mall G. 17 July 4/1 [Champion Lawn Tennis] A lobbed return with a twist. |