Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
name
Clive's Original Band, band started by Clive Palmer after he left The Incredible String Band.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
name
Abbreviation of Cobourg.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of
Topics: hobbies, lifestyle, sports
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A corncob.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The seed-bearing head of a plant.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Clipping of cobnut.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, clipping, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A male swan.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: East-Anglia, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, stone, or excrement.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A round, often crusty roll or loaf of bread.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Midlands, countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A horse having a stout body and short legs.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
One who is eminent, great, large, or rich.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A spider (cf. cobweb).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A small fish, the miller's thumb.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A large fish, especially the kabeljou (variant spelling of kob).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
The head of a herring.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A tower or small castle on top of a hill.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A thresher.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, obsolete, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A cylinder with pins in it, encoding music to be played back mechanically by a barrel organ.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, historical, uncountable
Topics: entertainment, lifestyle, music
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A person of mixed black and white ancestry, especially a griffe; a mulatto.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, dated, historical, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Abbreviation of cobble.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Alternative form of COB.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: alt-of, alternative
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of contingency operating base.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: US, abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Acronym of chief of boat.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, acronym, alt-of
Topics: government, military, politics, war
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of close of business; the end of day on a business day.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Synonyms: EOB, EOD
Antonyms: SOB, BOD, SOD
noun
Initialism of centre of buoyancy
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of coordination of benefits
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: business, government, healthcare, insurance
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of chairman of the board
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: business
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of chip on board (an LED module or integrated circuit bonded to a circuit board)
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: business, computer-hardware, computing, electrical-engineering, electricity, electromagnetism, electronics, energy, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Initialism of centre of buoyancy.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
Topics: natural-sciences, physical-sciences, physics
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To construct using mud blocks or to seal a wall using mud or an artificial equivalent.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To have the heads mature into corncobs.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To remove the kernels from a corncob.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To thresh.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To break up ground with a hoe.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To beat with a flat instrument; to paddle.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To throw, chuck, lob.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Northern-UK, colloquial
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
To chip off unwanted pieces of stone, so as to form a desired shape or improve the quality of mineral ore.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
adult male swan
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: swan
noun
white gull having a black back and wings
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: black-backed gull, great black-backed gull, Larus marinus
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: gull, seagull, sea gull
noun
stocky short-legged harness horse
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: harness horse
noun
nut of any of several trees of the genus Corylus
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: hazelnut, filbert, cobnut
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: edible nut
History
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.
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”).
Across languages
24 source translations are retained for this English entry.
