Word: cob Part of Speech: noun Etymology: 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. Pronunciation: /kɑb/, /kɒb/ 1. A corncob. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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. Example: I passed some mills in which the grain, cob, and husk were all ground up together for the cattle and hogs…. 2. The seed-bearing head of a plant. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Examining the cob of the plants now in seed, I found them very full of fine seed. Example: The following analyses exhibit the composition of the ash of the grain and cob of three specimens, grown on different soils, in Lewis county, in 1847 3. Clipping of cobnut. Labels: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable Example: Thy plumbs are fair indeed, but void of taste; And those large thick-shell cobs the teeth will guast. Example: This kind of husk also protects the nut from birds, for titmice (Parus) have been observed to pass over filberts, and attack cobs and common nuts growing in the same orchard. 4. A male swan. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: 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…. Example: The cob waddled out onto the island and looked in the nest. 5. A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb. Labels: East-Anglia, countable, uncountable Example: Here is also the pica marina or seapye many sorts of Lari, seamewes & cobs. Example: On Saturday the 28th we saw a whale, two sea-wolves, and two penguins; in the afternoon there appeared great numbers of ospreys, and sea-cobs, and we met with some sea-grass, with long leaves. 6. A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, stone, or excrement. Labels: countable, uncountable 7. A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread. Labels: Midlands, countable, uncountable Example: The cob was a cracknel or simnel made of fine flour. Example: …I sat there and broke the crust of my cob of bread. 8. A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé. Labels: uncountable Example: The poore Cotager contenteth himſelfe with Cob for his wals, and Thatch for his couering…. Example: The walls are of cob, the external ones being about 2 feet 8 inches thick, and rest on a stone foundation. 9. A horse having a stout body and short legs. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: If he comes to you riding a cob… Example: He was well-mounted upon a sturdy chestnut cob, and had the graceful seat of an experienced horseman…. 10. 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. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: …he put his Hand in his Pocket and pull’d out ſome Gold, ſome Broadpieces and a Gold Cob…. Example: They fancied, that he who sold a Stone of Wool for Two Cobs, callid 9s. when Cobs were raised would sell his Stone for a Cob and a half when called 9s. 11. One who is eminent, great, large, or rich. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: I ſaw fleſh bluddie toe ſlauer, / When the cob had maunged the gobets foule garbaged haulfe quick. Example: But I would not haue a few rich cobs to get into their clowches almoſt whole countries, ſo as the poore can haue no releefe by them. 12. A spider (cf. cobweb). Labels: countable, uncountable 13. A small fish, the miller's thumb. Labels: countable, uncountable 14. A large fish, especially the kabeljou (variant spelling of kob). Labels: countable, uncountable 15. The head of a herring. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: 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. Example: …not a Scrap of him, but the Cobs of the two Herrings, the Fiſhermen had eaten, remained of him…. 16. A tower or small castle on top of a hill. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: Perhaps though in time one may make them to yield, But 'tis pretty'st Cob-Castle e'er I beheld. Example: There is a small cob on this hill by some supposed to have been a fort: if it was, it must have been a very small one; tho' I rather take it for a tumulus than an exploratory tower. 17. A thresher. Labels: countable, obsolete, uncountable Example: Who can make the worm a cob to thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and make the hills as chaff. 18. A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ. Labels: countable, historical, uncountable 19. A person of mixed black and white ancestry, especially a griffe; a mulatto. Labels: countable, dated, historical, uncountable Example: […] 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." Example: The young mother was darker than either of her parents, and might be taken for a cob (the offspring of a mulatto and a negro), but the baby looked to be almost pure Indian.