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English dictionary

cob Meaning & Definition

/kɑb/

What Does Cob Mean?

As a noun, cob means A male swan. It can also mean A corncob. As a verb, it means To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent. As a verb, it means To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.

Word Facts for Cob

Part of speechnoun, verb
Pronunciation/kɑb/
Synonymshazelnut, filbert and cobnut
Pluralcobs
Verb formscobs, cobbing, cobbed

Cob Definition (Noun)

  1. A male swan.
  2. A corncob.
  3. A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread.
  4. A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
  5. A horse having a stout body and short legs.
  6. A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
  7. 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.
  8. A Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth about four shillings and sixpence.
  9. One who is eminent, great, large, or rich.
  10. A spider.
  11. A small fish, the miller's thumb.
  12. A large fish, especially the kabeljou (variant spelling of kob).
  13. The head of a herring.
  14. The top or head of anything.
  15. A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, or stone.
  16. A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood.
  17. A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.
  18. A person of mixed black and white ancestry, especially a griffe; a mulatto.

Cob as a Verb

  1. To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent.
  2. Of growing corn, to have the heads mature into corncobs.

Noun

  1. The nut of the common hazel (Corylus avellana); hazelnut.
  2. A specific cultivated variety of hazelnut, also known as the Kentish cobnut.
  3. A game played by children with nuts.

Verb

  1. To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.
  2. (Northern UK, possibly 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.

Noun

  1. Initialism of contingency operating base.
  2. Acronym of chief of boat.
  3. Close of Business, usually referring to a deadline for an office in another time zone.

    NY office told the LA office to have report e-mailed by COB.

  4. Coordination of Benefits
  5. Chairman of the Board
  6. Chip on Board

Noun

  1. A cobblestone.
  2. A particle from 64 to 256 mm in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.

Noun

  1. Small flat-bottomed fishing boat suitable for launching from a beach, found on the north-east coast of England and in Scotland.

Synonyms of Cob

hazelnutfilbertcobnutblack-backed gullgreat black-backed gulllarus marinus
Cob synonyms and antonyms →

Cob in a Sentence

NY office told the LA office to have report e-mailed by COB.

Word Forms & Grammar

cob (countable and uncountable, plural cobs)

cob (third-person singular simple present cobs, present participle cobbing, simple past and past participle cobbed)

cob (plural cobs)

cob

Words That Rhyme With Cob

bobjobthrobdaubsquabsobhobnobknobhobsnow jobglobslobhatchet jobheartthrobroblobaubeblobswabinside jobdobhand joblynch mobplumb bobdaubegrobbaablobbgaubcorncob

Origin of Cob

Origin 1: Of uncertain origin. The word has many disparate senses, which are likely of diverse origin.[1][2] 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”).[1][2] In other senses, the word may be related to cub, itself of obscure origin but possibly from Old Norse kobbi (“seal”).[1][3] 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”).[1] All these etymologies are disputed, and the exact origins of cob cannot be known with any certainty.

Origin 2: Uncertain. Possibly onomatopoeic,[2] but it has also been suggested that the word could be a continuation of Middle English cobbe (“fight”), a borrowing of Welsh cob (“blow”), or a cognate of Icelandic kubba (“chop”).[1]

Origin 3: Uncertain likely from resemblance to the action of eating corn off a cob.

Common Questions About Cob

Is cob a noun or a verb?

Cob is mainly used as a noun, but it can also be used as a verb.

What is another word for cob?

Close synonyms of cob are hazelnut, filbert and cobnut. See the full list of cob synonyms and antonyms.

What is the plural of cob?

The plural of cob is cobs.

What is the past tense of cob?

The past tense of cob is cobbed. The present participle is cobbing.

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