cob
/kɑb/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.04 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A gull, especially the black-backed gull (Larus marinus); also spelled cobb.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, stone, or excrement.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A building material consisting of clay, sand, straw, water, and earth, similar to adobe; also called cobb, rammed earth or pisé.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "I passed some mills in which the grain, cob, and husk were all ground up together for the cattle and hogs…."
- "Dad had placed a cob of corn on a stump for the jays, who bickered over it non-stop."
- "Examining the cob of the plants now in seed, I found them very full of fine seed."
- "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"
- "About the end of October last, as an experiment, I selected seed from a Hickory King cob of above and planted twenty rows with from twenty to thirty seeds in each row, rows three feet apart."
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.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /kɑb/
- British English: /kɒb/
Usage
- Countable
- Uncountable
- Obsolete
- Dated
- Colloquial
- American usage