▪ I. cob, n.1
(kɒb)
Also 5–6 cobbe.
[Used in a number of senses having but little apparent connexion with each other, and possibly of diverse origin. The notions may be roughly distinguished of ‘something big or stout’, ‘something rounded or forming a roundish lump’, ‘a head or top’; but these are intricately interwoven in individual senses. Thus cob = ‘cob-nut’, can hardly be separated from the notion of ‘stout or big nut’ on the one hand, or from that of ‘fruit stone’ on the other. So sense 1 appears sometimes to mean ‘man at the top’.
It has been suggested that ‘rounded head’ is the radical notion, and that cob is a variant of cop; but the history of the latter does not favour this. In some of the senses under II, cobble, cobyll, was an earlier equivalent, but these senses are closely connected with others which have no equivalents in cobble.]
I. Containing the notion ‘big’ or ‘stout’.
1. a. A great man, big man, leading man; in mod. dial. expressing pre-eminence, as ‘chief’, ‘leader’, rather than state. (In the later use, the notion of ‘head’, ‘top’, may have entered in.)
| a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 101 Mayntenaunce..Sustenede is not by persones lowe; But cobbes grete this ryot sustene. 1535 St. Papers Hen. VIII, II. 228 Ther must be some of the gret cobbes served likewise, and the King to have ther landes. 1560 J. Daus tr. Sleidane's Comm. 119 b, Al the sorte of them occupie waxe, the poorer sorte, as I haue now tolde you, but the greatter cobbes, in sealyng their letters. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) II. 28/2 The greatest Cobs were yet behind. 1827 in Hone Every-Day Bk. II. 769 For fishing and shuting he was the cob of all this country! 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob, leader or fighter, the bully or best fighter in a parish or school. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Cob is also a leader: ‘This boy will be always cob’ = what is called at school ‘cock of the school’. Sometimes pronounced cop. |
† b. A wealthy man; a miser. Obs.
| 1548 Forrest Pleas. Poesye 88 That wone clubbed Cobbe should not so encroche an hundred mennys lyuynges. 1548 Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke v. 68 b, The rich cobs of this worlde. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 27, I would not haue a few rich cobs to get into their clowches almost whole countries. 1681 W. Robertson Phraseol. Gen. (1693) 342 A rich Cob or miser, homo locuples & avarus. |
† c. A huge, lumpish person. Obs.
| 1583 Stanyhurst æneis iii. (Arb.) 90 When the cob had maunged the gobets foule garbaged haulfe quick. |
2. A male swan; also cob-swan.
| 1570 Order for Swans in Hone Every-Day Bk. II. 962 Till due proofe be had..whose was the Swan, that is away; Be it Cobbe or Pen. 1611 B. Jonson Catiline ii. i, I'm not taken With a cob-swan, or a high-mounting bull, As foolish Leda and Europa were. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (1856) 122 The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the she-swanne the penne. 1840 Browning Sordello ii. 320 Out-soar them, cobswan of the silver flock! Sing well! |
† 3. The name of a fish: see quots. Obs.
The sense ‘young herring’ given in mod. Dicts. is perh. a misinterpretation of sense 8.
| 1611 Florio, Bozzolo..a fish called a millers thomb or a cob. 1655 Moufet & Benn. Health's Impr. (1746) 275 Kobs or Sea-Gudgeons. [Cf. 1787 Grose Provinc. Gloss., Cobbo, a small fish called a miller's-thumb. a 1804 J. Boucher MS. Dict., A small fish (the Miller's Thumb) is in Kent called Cobbo.] |
4. A short-legged, stout variety of horse, usually ridden by heavy persons. [Said by some to be short for cob-horse: see first quots.]
| 1818 Todd, Cob, a horse not castrated. In our northern dialect, cob is a testicle. Ibid. Suppl., It is used also generally for a strong pony. 1818–36 Richardson, Cob, anything round, a round stone. A cob, a horse who has his cobs. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 201 If he comes to you riding a cob. 1840 Dickens Barn. Rudge x, He was well-mounted upon a sturdy chesnut cob. 1852 R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour xiv. 72 ‘That's not a bad-like old cob of yours.’ 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. (E.D.S.), Cob, a compact punchy horse. |
II. Containing the notion ‘rounded’, ‘roundish mass’ or ‘lump’.
5. Applied to various rounded solid bodies. In some of these cobyl, cobble occurs in earlier use. a. = cob-nut (in 15th c. cobyll-nut).
| 1589 Greene Poems (1861) 291 Sit down, Carmela; here are Cobs for Kings, Sloes black as jet. 1829 Loudon Encycl. Plants 792 Corylus..grandis, Cob. 1885 Pall Mall G. 20 Oct. 4 What better place than here to sit and eat our filberts and cobs? |
b. The stone of a fruit (in 15th c. cobyll-stone).
| a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Cob..the stony kernel of fruit. 1877 N.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, the stone of fruit. 1886 S.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, the stone of any fruit: ‘Don't swallow the cobs’. |
c. A testicle. dial.
| 1818–36 [see 4]. 1847–78 Halliwell, Cobbs, testiculi. North. |
d. ‘Cobs are also round Balls, or Pellets with which Fowls are usually crammed’ (Kersey 1708).
6. Applied to various rounded heaps. a. A small stack of hay or corn. dial.
| 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farm 645 To haue euery Winter in your Warren a little cob or stacke of hay. 1847–78 Halliwell, Cob, a small hay-stack. Oxon. 1886 S.W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, a small stack or heap of corn: ‘They've no-but two wheat stacks and a little cob’. |
b. A bunch or knot of hair; a chignon.
| 1865 Pall Mall G. 10 July 10/2 A gentleman parading Rotten-row with a lady's hair ‘cob’, which he had picked up and stuck at the end of his stick. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss., Cob, a bunch of hair on the forehead; often applied to the top locks of a horse's mane. |
c. A small heap or lump of (anything). dial.
| 1876 Blackmore Cripps III. xvii. 278 Stealing half the meat and all the little cobs of jelly. 1887 S. Cheshire Folk-sp., Cob, a small heap or lump: ‘a cob o' dirt’. |
7. Applied to various roundish or lumpy pieces: ‘something round, as a cob of coal, a cob of bread’ (Lanc. Gloss.). dial. a. A small loaf of roundish form, a cob-loaf. b. See also quots. 1877, 1888.
| 1606–17 Cob-loaf [see IV]. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob, a small round loaf, a lump or piece. 1877 Archæol. XLV. 180 The cob was a cracknel made of fine flour. 1887 S. Cheshire Folk-sp., Cob, a small loaf: ‘Bring me a cob o' bread’. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Cob, a cake of bread. |
c. A lump or large piece of coal (cf. cobble).
| a 1804 Cob-coal [see IV]. 1865 S. Bamford Wild Rider in Harland Lanc. Lyrics 15 A broody hen crow'd from her perch on a cob. 1865 E. Waugh in Harland Ballads Lanc. (1875) 372 Aw've just mended th' fire wi' a cob. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Cob or cobble, a lump of coal. |
d. dial. A (baked apple) dumpling.
| 1898 in Eng. Dial. Dict. 1952 F. White Good Eng. Food v. i. 188 Apple cobs..the name given in the Cotswolds to baked apple dumplings. 1960 Guardian 17 June 8/4 In Somerset this kind of baked dumpling is known as an Apple Cob. |
III. With the notion ‘head’, ‘top’.
† 8. The head of a (red) herring. Obs.
| 1594 Nashe Unf. Trav. Wks. (Grosart) V. 14 Lord high regent of rashers of the coles and red herring cobs. 1599 ― Lenten Stuffe 59 Not a scrap..but the cobs of the two herrings the fisherman had eaten remained of him. 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. i. iv, Cob (loq.) The first Red Herring that was broild in Adam and Eves Kitchin do I fetch my Pedigree from.. His Cob was my great-great-mighty-great-grandfather. 1603 Sir C. Heydon Jud. Astrol. xx. 405 He will not admit a stone to shine. And why not as wel as a peice of rotten wood, or a hearings cobbe in the darke? 1630 Dekker 2nd Pt. Honest Wh. Wks. 1873 II. 147 He can come bragging hither with foure white Herrings (at's taile)..but I may starue eye he giue me so much as a cob. 1632 Sherwood s.v. Cob, A herring cob, la teste d'un harang sor. |
9. See quot. dial. (perh. a local form of cop.)
| 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Cob, the top, e.g. ‘the cob of the hill’. |
10. The seeding head of wheat, clover, etc. dial.
| 1847–78 Halliwell, Cob-poke, a bag carried by gleaners for receiving the cobs or broken ears of wheat. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. (E.D.S.), Cob, the seed head of clover. |
11. The cylindrical shoot or rachis on which the grains of maize grow.
| 1702 C. Mather Magn. Chr. vi. vii. 69 In the year 1683 the House of Nicholas Desborough..was very strangely molested by Stones, by pieces of Earth, by Cobs of Indian Corn. 1817–8 Cobbett Resid. U.S. (1822) 7 The grains..are placed all round the stalk, which goes up the middle, and this little stalk, to which the seeds adhere, is called the Corn Cob. 1850 Lyell 2nd Visit U.S. II. 72 Mills in which the grain, cob, and husk were all ground up together for the cattle and hogs. 1866 Livingstone Jrnl. (1873) I. iii. 81 One cob had 1600 seeds. |
IV. attrib. and Comb.: cob-like, cob-mounted adjs. (from 4), cob-pipe (from 11); cob-coal (see 7 c); cob-fly, name of a kind of angling fly (see quot.); cob-handle, a round wooden handle for tools; cob-house orig. U.S., a house built by children out of corn-cobs, hence applied fig. to any insecure or unsubstantial scheme, etc.; † cob-knight (see quot.); cob-loaf (see quot. 1617); cob-meal U.S., corn-cobs ground down; cob-worm (Sc.), the larva of the cockchafer.
| a 1804 J. Boucher MS. Dict., In the North large coals are generally called *Cob-coals. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob-coals, large pit-coals. |
| 1870 D. P. Blaine Encyc. Rural Sports 1205 The March-brown of Mr. Hofland, better known here [in Wales] as the *cob-fly. |
| 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 113 To go into a wood⁓shop and find a job bench containing three or four files with the tips broken off, a *cob handle to be used between them..at once indicates the character of the establishment. |
| 1774 J. Belknap in J. Marcou Life (1847) 68 They have a neat poultry house, built of sawed strips of wood, in the form of a *cob-house. 1818 M. Birkbeck Lett. Illinois 116 In this country they build ‘cob-houses’;..with these cobs..structures are raised by the little half-Indian brats, very much like our houses of cards. 1834 Deb. Congress 26 Feb. 736 With the first shock in the commerce or credit of the country, the whole cob-house fabric must crumble. 1858 E. E. Hale in Atlantic Monthly Oct. 634/2 The child had been building cob-houses out of lucifer-matches in a paper-warehouse. 1881 Harper's Mag. Nov. 824 George builds a cob-house. |
| a 1652 Brome Damoiselle i. i, Ali. How came he by his Knighthood? Cost it nothing? Ver. No: He was one oth' *Cobbe-Knights in the throng, When they were dubd in Clusters. |
| 1888 Pall Mall G. 19 Sept. 2/1 Short *cob⁓like coolies, dressed only in shirt and drawers of blue cotton. |
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. ii. i. 41 Ther. Thou should'st strike him. Aia. *Coblofe. 1617 Minsheu Ductor Ling., Cobloafe or bunne..is a little loafe made with a round head. 1647 New Quaeres to Praelates 15 Limping and dancing..like Mummers about a cobloafe. 1678 Aubrey Wiltshire in Brand (1853) I. 466. 1877 Archæol. XLV. 180, 120 cob loaves, each of 12 oz. |
| 1833 Amer. Railroad Jrnl. II. 488/2, I have also made further discovery of the use of *cob meal. 1882 Maine Board Agric. Rep. XXVI. 255 Cob meal or middlings might be substituted for clear corn meal. |
| 1879 Geo. Eliot Theo. Such ii. 41 Riding by the side of a larger *cob-mounted shadow. |
| 1847 in D. Drake Pioneer Life Kentucky (1870) iii. 63 Quietly smoking a *cob pipe in the corner. 1884 Harper's Mag. 281/1 Mrs. Jackson..sat smoking her corn-cob pipe. 1889 Ibid. Dec. 119/2 With a cob pipe between his toothless gums. |
| 1791–9 Statist. Acc. Fife XIII. 29 (Jam.) Upon opening up their stomachs, he found them quite full of *cobworms. |
▪ II. cob, n.2
(kɒb)
[Examples known since c 1600. The explanation ‘lump of clay’ given by Cope, Hampsh. Gloss., would tend to identify this with cob n.1 sense 6 c; but this is otherwise improbable.]
A composition of clay (marl, or chalk), gravel, and straw, used, esp. in the south-west of England, for building walls, etc.
| 1602 Carew Cornwall (1769) 53 a, The poor Cottager contenteth himself with Cob for his Wals, and Thatch for his covering. Ibid. (1811) 249 The flood-gate will hold water best, if his sides be walled up with cob. 1797 Polwhele Hist. Devon I. 301 The inferior houses in Devon and Cornwall were built with mud, which was called cob. 1882 T. Mozley Reminisc. Oriel College I. ix. 72 Finding chalk cob the common material of the country. 1889 T. N. Brushfield in Trans. Devon. Assoc. XXI. 323 The walls are of cob..and rest on a stone foundation. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as cob cottage, cob house, cob wall (sometimes unnecessarily hyphened); cob-walled adj.; cob-parer, a tool used in building cob walls.
| 1790 J. Wolcott (P. Pindar) Rowl. for Oliver Wks. II. 406 Make a fortune by a history of cobwalls, old chamber⁓pots, and rusty nails. 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon 235. 1820 C. S. Gilbert Antiq. Cornwall 936 The houses in general, are cobwalled buildings. 1839 Loudon Encycl. Archit. 839 The cob-parer is made of iron. 1859 H. Kingsley G. Hamlyn vi. (D.), The main village..consisted of a narrow street of cob-houses white-washed and thatched. 1870 Thornbury Tour Eng. I. vii. 137 Homely cob walls square out the pastures. 1876 M. E. Braddon J. Haggard's Dau. v. 64 Hymns which compared the cob-walled barn to the gorgeous temple in the sacred city. 1889 Temple Bar Mag. Aug. 577 A red cob cottage. |
▪ III. cob, cobb, n.3
(kɒb)
[Identical with EFris. kobbe, sê-kobbe, Heligoland kobb, New Fris. kub, Du. kobbe, kob, with same meaning. Etymology, and possible connexion with cob in other senses, unknown.]
A name given to species of Gull, esp. the Greater Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus), and Common Gull (L. canus); also called sea-cob(b.
| 1580 Baret Alv. C 711 A sea Cobbe, Gauia alba. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. 206, I haue seene vpon these grounds, store of Pewets, Oliues, and Cobbes breed. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey iv. iii. 83 Fowling may be for the Sheldrake, Cob, Oliue, Puffin. 1655 Moufet & Bennet Health's Improv. (1746) 195 Sea-Mews and Sea-Cobs feed upon Garbage and Fish. 1733 Bailey Colloq. Erasm. (1877) 214 Wherever I find an hungry sea-cob I throw him out a bait. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 208 L. marinus..also called Cobb (Essex, Kent, N. Devon, Wales, Galway). L. canus, Cobb or Sea Cobb (Kent, Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk). |
▪ IV. † cob, n.4 Obs.
[Very rare as a separate word, and, in this form, probably taken from cobweb n., ME. coppe-web: cf. cop n.3 But cf. mod.Flem. cobbe, coppe, Westphalian cobbe, spider.]
A spider.
| 1657 Tomlinson Renou's Disp. 470 They [ants] hunt not after smaller animals, like Cobs, but degust them when dead. |
▪ V. cob, n.5
(kɒb)
[perh. identical with cob n.1 sense 1, as the biggest silver coin.]
A name given in the 17th and 18th centuries in Ireland, and subsequently in some British colonies and possessions, to the Spanish dollar or ‘piece of eight’.
| 1672 Petty Pol. Anat. 350 Spanish pieces of eight, called cobs in Ireland. 1681 Dineley Jrnl. Tour Irel. in Trans. Kilkenny Archæol. Soc. Ser. ii. II. 55 The most usual money..is Spanish Coyne knowne here by the name of a cob, an half cob and a quarter cob. 1745 P. Thomas Jrnl. 99 A considerable Quantity of Cob Dollars and wrought Plate. 1784 T. Sheridan Life Swift §1 (T.) He..poured out the contents, which were silver cobs, upon the table. 1822 Scott Pirate xxxi, ‘And so you came for your share of the cobs?’ 1835 Kelly Cambist 164 The Spanish dollar circulating at Gibraltar is commonly called a ‘cob’. |
Comb. cob-money (U.S.): see quots.
| 1865 Thoreau Cape Cod viii. 148 Pieces of silver called cob-money. 1868 B. J. Lossing Hudson 80 The old silver coins occasionally found at Fort Edward are called ‘cob-money’ by the people. |
▪ VI. cob, cobb, n.6 dial.
(kɒb)
(See quots.)
| 1691 Ray S. & E. Country Wds. 93 Cob, a Wicker-basket to carry upon the Arm. So a Seed-cob or Seed-lib, is such a Basket for Sowing. 1830 Scott Demonol. vi. 180 A brown loaf and a cobb of herrings. 1863 Morton Cycl. Agric. (E.D.S.), Cob, a basket used for carrying chaff, and for broad-casting wheat. |
▪ VII. cob, cobb, n.7 local.
(kɒb)
(See quots.)
[The mole or pier of Lyme Regis was originally constructed of cobble-stones heaped together; thence perhaps cob = cobble in sense 1.]
| 1605 Camden Rem. (1636) 116 A forced harborow for ships, as the Cob, of Linne in Dorsetshire. 1688 Addr. fr. Lyme Regis in Lond. Gaz. No. 2345/1 Your Majesties Princely Bounty towards the Maintenance of our Peer or Cob. 1743–5 R. Pococke Trav. (Camden) 97 The famous cob or mole is a quarter of a mile to the south-west of the town [Lyme Regis]. 1862 Smiles Engineers I. 283 The Cobb or harbour at Lyme Regis was..successfully put together. |
▪ VIII. cob, cobb, n.8
(kɒb)
[f. cob v.1 3.]
A blow.
| 1828 Cherokee Phœnix 10 Apr. (Bartlett), Such negro so offending shall receive fifteen cobbs or paddles for every such offence. 1848–60 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Cobb, a blow on the buttock. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss., Cob, a blow or knock: ‘a cob o' the yead’. 1884 Chesh. Gloss., Cob, a blow, generally on the head. |
▪ IX. cob, n.9
var. kob n.1
▪ X. cob, n.10
var. kob n.2
▪ XI. cob, n.11 slang.
(kɒb)
[Origin unknown.]
Phr. to have, get a cob on, to be annoyed, to become angry.
| 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 163/2 Have a cob on, to be annoyed: ships' stewards'. 1953 ‘R. Gordon’ Doctor at Sea ix. 113 ‘Don't you blokes go without me,’ he added threateningly. ‘I'll get a cob on if you don't wait.’ 1966 F. Shaw et al. Lern Yerself Scouse 22 Yer gorra cob on, you are in a bad mood. |
▪ XII. cob, v.1
(kɒb)
Also 4–7 kob, 9 cobb.
[Etymology doubtful; perh. onomatopœic.]
† 1. intr. To fight, give blows. Obs.
| c 1400 Destr. Troy 8285 Thre thousaund full þro þrang into batell..And cobbyt full kantly. Ibid. 11025 And ho keppit hym full kantly, kobbit with hym sore. |
2. trans. To crush or bruise (ore).
| 1778 Pryce Min. Cornubiensis 318 Cob, to break or bruise... Cobbed ore is the spalled which is broke out of the solid large stones with sledges. 1880 W. Cornwall Gloss., Cobbing in mining is breaking copper ore into small pieces. |
3. To strike. a. esp. Naut. To strike on the buttocks with a flat instrument. See cobbing.
| 1769 [see cobbing]. 1802 J. Anfrey in Naval Chron. VII. 76 They were going to cobb a man. 1802 Ann. Reg. 556 With a pair of pea-squeezers in his hand to cob him with. 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay ii, I was sentenced to be cobbed with a worsted stocking filled with wet sand. |
b. dial.
| 1825–79 Jamieson, Cob, to beat in a particular mode practised among shepherds. Roxb. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Cob, to strike posteriorly with the knee. 1881 Leicestersh. Word-bk., Cob, to strike: generally, to strike on the head. |
4. To thresh or beat out (seed). Also intr. said of the seed. Cf. cob n.1 10.
| 1796 Hull Advertiser 13 Feb. 1/4 Clover-seed is likely to be scarce..it cobs ill, and rises to little more on the average than one bushel per acre. 1807 A. Young Agric. Essex (1813) I. 155 He has applied it [threshing-machine] to cobbing white clover with great success. |
5. To throw.
| 1867 Kentish Dialect, Cob, to throw gently. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Cob, to throw: ‘cob it away, it's good t' nowt’; ‘The land has cobbed up a deal of grass’. |
▪ XIII. cob, v.2 dial.
Also cop.
[f. cob n.1]
trans. To top, excel, beat.
| 1847–78 Halliwell, Cob, to outdo or excel. 1869 Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob, to beat or surpass, also to pull the hair. To cob over a person is to crow over him. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Cob, to surpass, exceed. ‘Well, that cobs Dolly, an' Dolly cobbed the devil.’ 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Cob, sometimes pronounced cop. ‘I copped him’ = I beat him, or got ahead of him. |
▪ XIV. cob, v.3
var. of cop v. slang.