▪ I. ˈbobbing, vbl. n.1
Also (in sense 3) babbing.
[Several words, f. bob v. in various senses.]
1. Beating, striking; also fig. the giving of a sharp ‘rap’ in speech. (See bob n.3 2.) Hence bobbing-block.
| 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 250 b, With spyttynges, bobbynges, and other turmentes many and dyuerse. 1558 Phaër æneid v. N iij, Loude their brests w{supt} bobbings rings. 1575 Gascoigne Wks. (1587) 296 A bobbing blocke, a beating stocke, an owle. 1692 Poems in Burlesque 4 To leave off Stumming for dry Bobbing. |
2. Movement up and down; dancing, curtsying, etc. (See bob v.3).
| a 1776 in Herd Coll. Sc. Songs II. 114 (Jam.) Wi' bobbing Willie's shanks are sair. 1832 H. Martineau Each and All v. 62 There was plenty of bobbing from the girls. 1865 Englishman's Mag. Oct. 310 Bees..making a ceaseless bobbing in the flowers. |
3. Fishing for eels with a bob. (In East Anglia babbing, which also signifies a method of catching crabs; see quot. 1867.) Also U.S. (see bob n.1 7).
| 1653 W. Lauson Secr. Angling in Arb. Garner I. 195 There is a third usual way to catch Eels, called ‘Bobbing’. 1673 Marvell Reh. Transp. ii. 105 This grave and ponderous creature may like Eeles be taken and pull'd up only with bobbing. 1815 S. L. Mitchill in Trans. Lit. & Philos. Soc. N.Y. I. 360 The eel..is also taken..by a bunch of tough bait, after a manner called bobbing. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Babbing, an east-country method of catching crabs, by enticing them to the surface of the water with baited lines and then taking them with a landing net. 1874 A. Bathgate Colonial Experiences xvii. 243 The manner most frequently adopted for catching eels, called ‘bobbing’, is primitive enough, and is by means of a line formed of narrow stripes of flax leaves, to the end of which is tied a bundle of earth worms. 1883 Century Mag. July 383/1 Bobbing has been practiced in Florida for more than a century, and is a very simple but remarkably ‘killing’ method of fishing. 1888 Goode Amer. Fishes 62 Trolling with the rod, ‘skittering’, and ‘bobbing’ are other modes of local popularity. |
▪ II. ˈbobbing, vbl. n.2
[f. bob n.1 2 e.]
The action or pastime of riding on bob-sleighs. Also attrib.
| 1888 Troy Daily Times 31 Jan. (Farmer), All the village bobbing clubs will participate in the carnival at Albany tomorrow... There are seventy-eight entries for the bobbing parade. 1888 Harper's Mag. May 973/1 Ruby and Ned displeased their mother by joining a ‘bobbing’ party on a neighbouring ‘hill’ street. 1904 Windsor Mag. Jan. 245/1 Bobbing can be practised on any high-road having a sufficient length of suitable slope. 1928 Evening Standard 5 Jan. 6/2 Bobbing is carried out either on bobs (five passengers) or boblets (three passengers). 1942 A. Koroleff Efficiency in Skidding Wood 5/2 Other methods in which log carriers of some kind are used (such as ‘bobbing’, ‘draying’, ‘boganning’, etc.). |
▪ III. bobbing, vbl. n.3
see bobber5.
▪ IV. ˈbobbing, ppl. a.
[Several words, f. bob v. in various senses.]
† 1. Mocking, flouting, satirical. Obs.
| 1605 Camden Rem. 22 With these bobbing rimes. |
† 2. Striking. Obs.
| 1567 J. Studley Seneca's Hippolytus (1581) 65 Dash out on mee thy bobbing bolt. |
3. That bobs up and down or from side to side; dancing; curtsying.
| a 1700 Dryden (J.) Jewels, rings, and bobbing pearls, Pluck'd from Moors' ears. 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. I. 72 Bobbing rabbits, wild and shy. 1868 Gd. Words July 445 He took off his hat to bobbing apple-women. |
b. Bobbing Joan: an old dance-tune. Bobbing John: a nickname of the Earl of Mar in 1715, referring to his behaviour to successive dynasties.
| 1756 Hop Garland (N.) Strike up Bobbing Joan, Or I'll break your fiddle. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Nell Cook Moral, Don't let your Niece sing ‘Bobbing Joan’! |