cob

Meaning

Noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A corncob.
2. (countable, uncountable) The seed-bearing head of a plant.
3. (abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable) Clipping of cobnut.
4. (countable, uncountable) A male swan.
5. (East-Anglia, countable, uncountable) A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
6. (countable, uncountable) A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, or stone.
7. (Midlands, countable, uncountable) A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread.
8. (uncountable) A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
9. (countable, uncountable) A horse having a stout body and short legs.
10. (countable, uncountable) Any of the gold and silver coins that were minted in the Spanish Empire and valued in reales or escudos, such as the piece of eight—especially those which were crudely struck and irregularly shaped.
11. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) One who is eminent, great, large, or rich.
12. (countable, uncountable) A spider (cf. cobweb).
13. (countable, uncountable) A small fish, the miller's thumb.
14. (countable, uncountable) A large fish, especially the kabeljou (variant spelling of kob).
15. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) The head of a herring.
16. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A tower or small castle on top of a hill.
17. (countable, obsolete, uncountable) A thresher.
18. (countable, historical, uncountable) A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.
19. (countable, dated, historical, uncountable) A person of mixed black and white ancestry, especially a griffe; a mulatto.

Verb

1. To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent.
2. To have the heads mature into corncobs.
3. To remove the kernels from a corncob.
4. To thresh.
5. To break up ground with a hoe.

Verb

1. To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.
2. (Northern-UK, colloquial) To throw, chuck, lob.
3. To chip off unwanted pieces of stone, so as to form a desired shape or improve the quality of mineral ore.

Synonyms

swan

🦢

ear

👂

hazelnut

cygnet

corncob

black-backed gull

great black-backed gull

cobnut

spike

cob-swan

pen

🖊️

filbert

Larus marinus

strike

throw

team of horses

American hazelnut

Chinese hazelnut

giant filbert

male swan

short-legged riding horse

European hazel

rammed earth

sea-cob

Harry Lauder’s walking stick

curri

headed hazel

irish coll

Chinese filbert

Chinese hazel

European filbert

chignon

grain spike

clod

cone

corn

🌽

corn cob

Cygnus

drake

gander

lump

nag

pony

seagull

sea gull

Translations

torchis

Schwan

🦢

cisne

🦢

épi

👂

mazorca

olote

avelã

noisette

Kolben

αρσενικός κύκνος

ιππάριο

cygne

🦢

Schwäne

Haselnuss

männlicher Schwan

Pronounced as (IPA)

/kɑb/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: cobbe

Cognate with Old Norse: kobbi

Cognate with English: cot

Cognate with Welsh: cob

Cognate with German: Kübel

Cognate with Middle English: cobbe

Cognate with Icelandic: kubbur

In summary

Of uncertain origin. The word has many disparate senses, which are likely of diverse origin. The specifics of these origins have long been debated, as has the question of which senses arise from which origins. At least the swan sense originated in Middle English cobbe (“male swan; gang leader; bully”). Some other senses likely originated as a variant of cop (“head, top, peak, summit”). In other senses, the word may be related to cub, itself of obscure origin but possibly from Old Norse kobbi (“seal”). However, many alternative etymologies have been proposed to account for some or all senses of cob; various sources have related it, for example, to English cot (“cottage”), Welsh cob (“top, tuft”), or German Kübel (“large container”). All these etymologies are disputed, and the exact origins of cob cannot be known with any certainty.