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bob

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bob¹

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb, -ɑːb

Where it comes from

From Middle English bobben (“to move up and down or back and forth”), of uncertain origin. Compare Scots bob (“to mark, dance with a bobbing motion”), Icelandic boppa (“to wave up and down”), Swedish bobba (“to bob”), Faroese bøbbur (“something that rises or stands up; top”), Dutch dobberen (“to float, bob”).

verb bobs · bobbing · bobbed

  1. intransitive To move gently and vertically, in either a single motion or repeatedly up and down, at or near the surface of a body of water, or similar medium. The cork bobbed gently in the calm water.

    Similar: surge

  2. transitive To move (something) as though it were bobbing in water. I bobbed my head underwater and saw the goldfish.
  3. transitive, with on To perform oral sex on someone. She bobbed on his knob.
  4. To curtsy.
  5. To strike with a quick, light blow; to tap. And if any man hapned, by longe sittynge, to slepe, or, by any other countenance, to shewe him selfe to be weary, he was sodaynly bobbed on the face by the seruantes of Nero, […]
  6. intransitive Synonym of blob (“catch eels using worms strung on thread”). After they had had supper Frank said, Do you remember those men whom we saw near Norwich, who sat in small boats all the night long, and with a line in each hand, bobbed for eels?

    Similar: blob

noun bobs

  1. A bobbing motion; a quick up and down movement. a bob of the head
  2. A curtsy.
  3. A bobber (buoyant fishing device). Or yellow bobs turn’d up before the plough / Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enough.
  4. Any of various hesperiid butterflies.

bob²

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb, -ɑːb

Where it comes from

From Middle English bobbe (“a cluster (of fruit); a twig with its leaves, a spray”), perhaps of Celtic origin (compare Irish baban "tassel, cluster," Gaelic babag).

noun bobs

  1. A bob haircut. Whether your hair covers your head in short curls, a pert pixie cut, smooth braids, or a long bob, do yourself a good turn by finding the styles which are most becoming to you.

    Similar: bob cut

  2. Any round object attached loosely to a flexible line, a rod, a body part etc., so that it may swing when hanging from it. Ecod! I have got them. Here they are. My cousin Con's necklaces, bobs and all.
  3. The dangling mass of a pendulum or plumb line.
  4. The docked tail of a horse.
  5. The short runner of a sled.
  6. A bobsleigh.
  7. A small wheel, made of leather, with rounded edges, used in polishing spoons, etc.
  8. A working beam in a steam engine.
  9. A particular style of ringing changes on bells.
  10. A blow; a shake or jog; a rap, as with the fist.
  11. obsolete A knot or short curl of hair; also, a bob wig. A plain brown bob he wore.
  12. obsolete The refrain of a song. Ay, Ay, and Then to Bed, ſays the Bride. This Girl did but ſpeak the Widows Mind; for let Fleſh and Blood pretend what it will, to Bed, to Bed, will be the Bob of the Song.
  13. A short line ending a stanza of a poem.
  14. obsolete A jeer; a sharp jest or taunt. Hee, that a Foole doth very wiſely hit, Doth very fooliſhly, although he ſmart, Seeme ſenſeleſſe of the bob.

verb bobs · bobbing · bobbed

  1. transitive To cut (hair) into a bob haircut. I got my hair bobbed. How do you like it?
  2. transitive To shorten by cutting; to dock; to crop.
  3. To bobsleigh.

bob³

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb, -ɑːb

noun bob · bobs

  1. Australia, Kenya, New Zealand, UK, dated, historical A shilling. One of the bottlenosed fraternity it was went by the name of James Wought alias Saphiro alias Spark and Spiro, put an ad in the papers saying he'd give a passage to Canada for twenty bob.
  2. Australia, dated, slang A 10-cent coin, ten cents.
  3. slang An unspecified small amount of money. I could have saved myself a few bob buying it somewhere else.

bob⁴

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb, -ɑːb

noun bobs

  1. abbreviation, clipping Clipping of shishkabob

bob⁵

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb, -ɑːb

Where it comes from

Blend of blitter object.

noun bobs

  1. A graphical element, resembling a hardware sprite, that can be blitted around the screen in large numbers. The bob list determines the drawing priority […]

BOB⁶

Where it comes from

Acronym of battery-operated boyfriend, fortuitously spelling out the male given name Bob in the case of the humorous colloquial definition.

noun BOBs

  1. humorous Vibrator (device designed to stimulate a woman's genitals).

BOB⁷

Where it comes from

Acronym of back of the book.

adjective

  1. not comparable Back-of-the-book; denoting those stamps in a catalogue that are not used for the payment of regular postage fees, and are displayed separately in the catalogue after that listing; the division between these two groups varies with the publisher.

BOB⁸

noun

  1. abbreviation, acronym, uncountable Acronym of bur oak blight (“a fungal disease of plants”).

BOB⁹

noun BOBs

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of bailout bottle

Bob10

  • /bɒb/ UK
  • /bɑb/ US
  • /bɔb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

Probably from a medieval hypocorism of Rob.

proper noun Bobs

  1. A diminutive of the male given name Robert. Miramax Films cofounders Bob and Harvey Weinstein will end their successful, but often tumultuous, 12-year relationship with The Walt Disney Company to launch their own media company.
  2. The person or system receiving a message or signal from a source conventionally known as Alice. The key that Alice and Bob are to share cannot be transmitted in the clear. Either it must be enciphered when sent, or Alice and Bob must derive it without an exhange of data from which the key can be derived.

    Similar: Party B

  3. euphemistic God.

noun Bobs

  1. A generic male person. It's so simple, even Bob from accounting could do it.

    Similar: Jack, Joe

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: curtsy, bobtail, bobber, bobsled, tail, cork, shilling, dock, bobfloat, british shilling, mask, marcel, rob, beanie, spade, plumb

Translations

Every language

verb move (something) as though it were bobbing in water

Italianosballottare
Русскийподпры́гивать podprýgivatʹ, подпры́гнуть podprýgnutʹ, подска́кивать podskákivatʹ, подскочи́ть podskočítʹ

verb move vertically at surface of water

Françaisballotter
Italianoondeggiare, dondolare, traballare, spuntare fuori
Русскийкача́ться kačátʹsja, выны́ривать vynýrivatʹ, вы́нырнуть výnyrnutʹ

noun bobbing motion

Italianosballottio
Русскийподска́кивание podskákivanije, подпры́гивание podprýgivanije

noun the dangling mass of a pendulum or plumb line

Françaispoids, plomb
Русскийотве́с otvés

noun the docked tail of a horse

Русскийкупи́рованный хвост kupírovannyj xvost

noun the short runner of a sled

Русскийпо́лоз póloz

noun a short line ending a stanza

Русскийприпе́в pripév, рефре́н refrén

verb cut into a bob haircut

中文剪波波头 jiǎn bōbōtóu

name diminutive of Robert

EspañolBeto, Bob
한국어밥 Bap
日本語ボブ bobu
中文鮑勃 /鲍勃 Bàobó, 巴布 Bābù
हिन्दीबॉब bŏb
PortuguêsBeto, Bob
FrançaisBob
DeutschBob
ItalianoBob
ΕλληνικάΜπομπ Bomp
RomânăBob
РусскийБоб
Tiếng ViệtBob
العربيةبُوب bōb
עבריתבוֹב bob

name person or system receiving a message

PortuguêsBob

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

"bob." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/bob. Accessed 5 Nov. 2026.

APA

bob. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/bob

Chicago

"bob." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 5, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/bob.

BibTeX
@misc{bob_2026,
  title = {bob},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/bob},
  urldate = {2026-11-05}
}