hob









hob


hob 1[hob] ExamplesWord Origin See more synonyms for hob on Thesaurus.com noun

  1. a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm.
  2. a rounded peg or pin used as a target in quoits and similar games.
  3. a game in which such a peg is used.
  4. Machinery. a milling cutter for gear and sprocket teeth, splines, threads, etc., having helically arranged teeth and fed across the work as the work is rotated.

verb (used with or without object), hobbed, hob·bing.

  1. Machinery. to cut with a hob.

Origin of hob 1 1505–15; variant of obsolete hub hob (in a fireplace); perhaps identical with hub Related formshob·ber, noun hob 2[hob] noun

  1. a hobgoblin or elf.

Idioms

  1. play hob with, to do mischief or harm to: The child played hob with my radio, and now it won’t work at all.
  2. raise hob, to cause a destructive commotion; behave disruptively: They raised such hob with their antagonistic questions that the meeting broke up.

Origin of hob 2 1275–1325; Middle English, special use of Hob, for Robert or Robin Related formshob·like, adjective Related Words for hob leprechaun, imp, goblin, gnome, stove, furnace, chimney, gremlin, puck, elf, brownie, spirit, fay, hob, sprite, bogie, siren, enchanter, nymph, pixie Examples from the Web for hob Historical Examples of hob

  • There was a kettle on the hob, as there had been night and day for fifteen years.

    Little Dorrit

    Charles Dickens

  • Shan’t I be glad when I get richer and better known, and hob and nob with him!’

    A Pair of Blue Eyes

    Thomas Hardy

  • The fire was burning brightly, and the kettle was singing on the hob.

    All Roads Lead to Calvary

    Jerome K. Jerome

  • His tea was ready for him on the hob, and they all tried who should help him to it most.

    Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, March 1844

    Various

  • The kettle will be coming soon to sing on the hob: and that will do nearly as well.

    Deerbrook

    Harriet Martineau

  • British Dictionary definitions for hob hob 1 noun

    1. British the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates or burners
    2. a shelf beside an open fire, for keeping kettles, etc, hot
    3. a steel pattern used in forming a mould or die in cold metal
    4. a hard steel rotating cutting tool used in machines for cutting gears

    verb hobs, hobbing or hobbed

    1. (tr) to cut or form with a hob

    Word Origin for hob C16: variant of obsolete hubbe, of unknown origin; perhaps related to hub hob 2 noun

    1. a hobgoblin or elf
    2. a male ferret
    3. raise hob or play hob US informal to cause mischief or disturbance

    Derived Formshoblike, adjectiveWord Origin for hob C14: variant of Rob, short for Robin or Robert Word Origin and History for hob n.

    “side of fireplace,” 1670s, alteration of hubbe (1510s), of unknown origin, perhaps somehow related to the first element in hobnail.

    Hob n.

    “clown, prankster,” short for hobgoblin (q.v.). Hence, to play (the) hob “make mischief” (by 1834).

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