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gob

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gob¹

  • /ɡɒb/ UK
  • /ɡɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

From Middle English gobbe (also Middle English gobet), from Old French gobet, gobe (“lump, mouthful”), from Transalpine Gaulish *gobbo- (“neb, muzzle”).

noun gobs

  1. countable A lump of soft or sticky material. 1952, The Glass Industry, Volume 33, Ashlee Publishing Company, page 309, These inventors have discovered that gobs may be fed at widely spaced times without allowing the glass to flow during the interval but instead flushes out the chilled glass which accumulates during the dwell.
  2. slang, uncountable Saliva or phlegm. He spat a big ball of gob on to the pavement.

    Similar: saliva, spit, sputum

  3. US, countable, regional A whoopie pie.
  4. countable, in plural, uncountable A large amount. gobs of money

    Similar: abundance, battalion, arseload, assload, bellyload, boatload, brimful, busload, bucketful, bucketload, butt-ton, bumload

verb gobs · gobbing · gobbed

  1. To gather into a lump. 1997 March, William G. Tapply, How to Catch a Trout on a Sandwich, Field & Stream, page 60, I liked to gob up two or three worms on a snelled hook, pinch three or four split shot onto the leader, and plunk it into the dark water.
  2. ambitransitive, slang To spit, especially to spit phlegm.

gob²

  • /ɡɒb/ UK
  • /ɡɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

Probably from Irish gob, Scottish Gaelic gob (“beak, mouth”).

noun gobs

  1. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, slang The mouth. He′s always stuffing his gob with fast food.

    Similar: cakehole, mush, trap, bazoo, chops, clam, clamshell, gob, hash-trap, kisser, laughing gear, maw

gob³

  • /ɡɒb/ UK
  • /ɡɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

Back-formation from gobbing, or a specified use of Etymology 1, above.

noun gobs

  1. uncountable Waste material in old mine workings, goaf. This consisted in wheeling gob back to the most distant part of the stope and filling up the sets right up to the roof.

verb gobs · gobbing · gobbed

  1. intransitive To pack away waste material in order to support the walls of the mine.

gob⁴

  • /ɡɒb/ UK
  • /ɡɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

Where it comes from

Shortened from gobby or gobshite.

noun gobs

  1. US, slang A sailor. Well I have taken the oath of allegiance for 4 years service anywhere in the world and am now a real 'gob' in the U. S. Navy.

gob⁵

  • /ɡɒb/ UK
  • /ɡɑb/ US

Rhymes with -ɒb

noun gobs · gog

  1. empty gloss, no gloss (nautical) To save having to enter the locks at a crawl — not seamanlike in the strong cross-winds we often experienced ― I rigged a quarter-rope as described for stopping her, in addition to a gob-rope that I could immediately haul on to convert the quarter rope into a conventional stern line to hold her alon

Translations

Every language

noun lump of soft or sticky material

DeutschKlumpen

noun slang: saliva or phlegm

Françaiscrachat
Italianosputo, saliva

noun slang: mouth

Françaisgueule
DeutschSchnauze
Italianobocca
Românăfleancă, plisc, leoarbă

noun military slang: sailor

Italianomarinaio

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Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{gob_2026,
  title = {gob},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/gob},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}