▪ I. † nob, n.1 Obs.
[Of obscure origin: cf. Flem. nobbeling, the coarsest flax, of which sacking is made. See also nobbly a.]
A knot (on thread).
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. clxi. (Bodl. MS.) 230 b/2 Hurden..is clensing of offal of hempe oþer of flaxe..þerof is þrede sponne þat is..vneuen and ful of nobbes. |
▪ II. nob, n.2 slang.
(nɒb)
Also 8 nobb.
[perh. a variant of knob n., in various senses of which the spelling nob is also used (see Eng. Dial. Dict.). Sense 3 may be unconnected.]
1. a. The head. (Cf. knob n. 4.) bob a nob: see bob n.8 2.
| a 1700 B. E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Nob, a Head. 1733 K. O'Hara Tom Thumb i. iv, Do pop up your nob again, And egad I'll crack your crown. 1759 Compl. Lett.-Writer (ed. 6) 220 Miss Bennet had apparel'd her nob in a frightful Fanny Murry Cap. 1819 Sporting Mag. IV. 237 A tremendous lunging blow on his nob. a 1845 Hood Public Dinner 17 A little dark spare man, With bald shining nob. 1894 Meredith Ld. Ormont i, Matey's sure aim..relieving J. Masner of a foremost assailant with a spanker on the nob. |
| fig. 1782 G. Parker Hum. Sk. 155 Here no despotic power shews Oppression's haughty nob. |
b. attrib. and Comb. as nob-thatch, hair; nob-thatcher, a wig-maker (Grose 1796) or hatter.
| 1823 Moncrieff Tom & Jerry i. v, Some of our dashing straw-chippers and nob-thatchers in Burlington Arcade. 1866 Yates Land at Last vii, You've got a paucity of nob-thatch, and what 'air you 'ave is..gray. |
c. A blow on the head.
| 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 153 By flush-hits, and nobs and fibs Who crack'd the jaw and broke the ribs Of fearless Thomas Molineux. |
2. In Cribbage, the knave of the same suit as the turn-up card, counting one to the holder; esp. in phr. one for his nob.
| 1821 Lamb Elia Ser. i. Mrs. Battle's Opinions on Whist, There was nothing silly in it, like the nob in cribbage. 1844 J. T. J. Hewlett Parsons & W. liv, Fifteen two, and a pair's four, and his nob's five. 1870 Hardy & Ware Mod. Hoyle, Cribbage 18 If you hold in your hand or crib a knave of the same suit as the card turned up you peg one. In the familiar phrase, you take ‘one for his nob’. |
† 3. The game of prick-the-garter. Obs.
| 1753 J. Poulter Discov. (ed. 2) 9 We defrauded a young Man of..four Guineas..at the old Nobb, or Pricking in the Belt. Ibid. 11. |
▪ III. nob, n.3 slang.
(nɒb)
Also Sc. 8 knabb, 8–9 nab.
[Of obscure origin: the Sc. forms are against the suggestion that it is an abbreviation of nobleman.]
A person of some wealth or social distinction.
| α 1755 R. Forbes Ajax Sp., Shop Bill ii, Doughty geer That either knabbs or lairds may weer. 1796 Lauderdale Poems 75 (E.D.D.), A' the fat nabs through the countra. 1819 Thomson Poems 29 (E.D.D.), The nabs will say, that duddy soul Shall no sit near, nor taste our bowl. |
| β 1809 MS. Lett. of W. Fowler, My Drawings and Engravings..have recommended me to the notice of the first Nobbs of this Kingdom. 1825 C. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 255 Nob or big wig. 1837 Disraeli Henrietta Temple v. xviii, The little waiter who began to think Ferdinand was not such a nob as he had imagined. 1850 Huxley in Life (1900) I. v. 63 [He] asked me to dine with him and meet a lot of nobs. 1872 Punch 3 Feb. 47/1 Why don't your nobs and swells get up poor's schools of their own? |
▪ IV. nob, n.4
variant of knob n.
▪ V. nob, n.5
abbrev. of knobstick 2.
| 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies xix. 136 They ha'e a strong society,..and hate nobs such as me. 1886 Macleod Clyde Distr. Dumbart. I. 22 The ‘nobs’ and their protectors proceeded to the works. |
▪ VI. nob, v.1 Boxing slang.
[f. nob n.1 1.]
1. trans. To strike (one) on the head.
| 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 18 After Crib had again nobbed him. 1816 Ibid. XLVIII. 181 Ford..nobbed him severely. 1823 Moncrieff Tom & Jerry ii. iv, I've nobb'd him on the canister. |
2. intr. To deliver blows on the head.
| 1812 Sporting Mag. XXXIX. 153 Tom who cou'd both fib and nob. 1814 Ibid. XLIII. 55 Alexander kept nobbing with his left hand at the other. |
Hence ˈnobbing vbl. n.1 and ppl. a.
| 1816 Sporting Mag. XLVIII. 87 Stephenson during these rounds..put in several nobbing hits. 1825 Jones True Boxer in Farmer Musa Ped. (1896) 92 With flipping and milling, and fobbing and nobbing. |
▪ VII. nob, v.2 slang.
[Of obscure origin.]
1. To collect (money).
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 135 We also ‘nob’, or gather the money. 1893 P. H. Emerson Signor Lippo vi, I nobbed half a sovereign from a young visitor, besides a lot of small money. |
2. To make a collection from (persons).
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 206, I saw some men coming out of a chemical works, and we went to ‘nob’ them (that is get some halfpence out of them). |
Hence ˈnobbing vbl. n.2 Also in concrete use.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour (1861) III. 109 We'd take..perhaps fifteen shillings of nobbings. 1895 Morton Adv. Arthur Roberts 138 ‘Nobbing’ is the professional euphuism for going round with the hat. |
▪ VIII. nob
in hob and nob, etc.: see hob-nob.