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cob

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cob¹

  • /kɑb/ US
  • /kɒb/ UK

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

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.

noun cobs

  1. countable, uncountable A corncob. The grains, each of which is about the bulk of the largest marrowfat pea, are placed all round a stalk, which goes up the middle, and this little stalk, to which the seeds adhere, is called the Corn Cob.
  2. countable, uncountable The seed-bearing head of a plant. Examining the cob of the plants now in seed, I found them very full of fine seed.
  3. abbreviation, clipping, countable, uncountable Clipping of cobnut Thy plumbs are fair indeed, but void of taste; And those large thick-shell cobs the teeth will guast.
  4. countable, uncountable A male swan. In all common streams, and private waters, when cygnets are taken up, the owner of the cob must chuse the first cygnet, and the pen the next, and so in order….
  5. East Anglia, countable, uncountable A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb. Here is also the pica marina or seapye many sorts of Lari, seamewes & cobs.
  6. countable, uncountable A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, stone, or excrement.
  7. Midlands, countable, uncountable A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread. The cob was a cracknel or simnel made of fine flour.
  8. uncountable A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé. The poore Cotager contenteth himſelfe with Cob for his wals, and Thatch for his couering….
  9. countable, uncountable A horse having a stout body and short legs. If he comes to you riding a cob…
  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. …he put his Hand in his Pocket and pull’d out ſome Gold, ſome Broadpieces and a Gold Cob….
  11. countable, obsolete, uncountable One who is eminent, great, large, or rich. I ſaw fleſh bluddie toe ſlauer, / When the cob had maunged the gobets foule garbaged haulfe quick.
  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. The first red herring that was broil’d in Adam and Eve’s kitchen, do I fetch my pedigree from, by the Harrot’s book. His Cob was my great-great-mighty-great grandfather.
  16. countable, obsolete, uncountable A tower or small castle on top of a hill. Perhaps though in time one may make them to yield, But 'tis pretty'st Cob-Castle e'er I beheld.
  17. countable, obsolete, uncountable A thresher. Who can make the worm a cob to thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff.
  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. […] but he does not say whether the nobleman is a mulatto or half-caste, or what advantage is to be derived from purchasing a cob belonging to "a dark-brown nobleman."
  20. countable, dialectal, uncountable a horse chestnut tree Cob. The Horse-chestnut tree. "The squirrels play old Mag with the cobs in the plantation."

verb cobs · cobbing · cobbed

  1. To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent. Windows and other details can be cobbed into place, and niches and reliefs are easy to create.
  2. of growing corn To have the heads mature into corncobs. Ninety Day came to maturity very early and cobbed plentifully, but the grain proved shallow and lacking in meal.
  3. To remove the kernels from a corncob. Darning socks, knitting, fancy work, cooking, housework, cobbing corn.
  4. To thresh. The price paid for cobbing (separating the seed from the straw) and drawing the seed of red and white clover is from 3s. 6d. to 4s. 6d. the bushel of 5 stone of seed.
  5. To break up ground with a hoe. I have in this manner cobbed, with great success, lands that had formerly been in tillage, which would no longer bring corn because they were exhausted, either by consecutive crops or by the great quantity of weeks, which impoverished them: these became as good as my regularly cobbed lands.

cob²

  • /kɑb/ US
  • /kɒb/ UK

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

Uncertain. Possibly onomatopoeic, 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”).

verb cobs · cobbing · cobbed

  1. To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle. […] he pulled off his hat, and said he was going to cob him for breaking the rules and laws of the ship’s company.
  2. Northern UK, colloquial To throw, chuck, lob. Well, sir, I’m sure I’d be rid of it fast enough if I could naut cob it away like a stoan.
  3. To chip off unwanted pieces of stone, so as to form a desired shape or improve the quality of mineral ore. A ſhade or ſhelter from the weather, under which the Cobbers cob the Ore.

noun cobs

  1. A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood. Such negro so offending shall receive fifteen cobbs or paddles for every such offence.

cob³

  • /kɑb/ US
  • /kɒb/ UK

Rhymes with -ɒb

noun

  1. abbreviation Abbreviation of cobble Habitats were sand, cobble (cob), sand with macrophytes (s\m) and muck with macrophytes (m\m).
  2. alternative Alternative form of COB

cob⁴

  • /kɑb/ US
  • /kɒb/ UK

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

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

verb cobs · cobbing · cobbed

  1. Of an animal: to nibble at their skin with their front teeth.

COB⁵

noun COBs

  1. US, abbreviation, initialism Initialism of contingency operating base
  2. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of chief of boat
  3. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of close of business; the end of day on a business day. Near-synonym: EOD (“end of day”)

    Similar: EOB, EOD · Opposite: SOB, BOD, SOD

  4. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of centre of buoyancy
  5. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of coordination of benefits
  6. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of chairman of the board
  7. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of chip on board (an LED module or integrated circuit bonded to a circuit board)

proper noun

  1. Clive's Original Band, band started by Clive Palmer after he left The Incredible String Band.
  2. abbreviation Abbreviation of Cobourg

CoB⁶

noun CoBs

  1. abbreviation, initialism Initialism of centre of buoyancy

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: filbert, hazelnut, cobnut, black-backed gull, larus marinus, cos, spike, spur, epi, boc, sec, cbd, crt, cds, dba, corn-cob

Translations

Every language

noun male swan

Españolcisne macho
Françaiscygne mâle
Deutschmännlicher Schwan
Ελληνικάαρσενικός κύκνος arsenikós kýknos
Românălebădoi

noun building material of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth

Françaistorchis

noun horse having a stout body and short legs

Ελληνικάιππάριο ippário

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Cite this
MLA

"cob." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/cob. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

cob. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/cob

Chicago

"cob." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/cob.

BibTeX
@misc{cob_2026,
  title = {cob},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cob},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}