Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Cob?

\Cob\, n. [Cf. AS. cop, copp, head, top, D. kop, G. kopf, kuppe, LL. cuppa cup (cf. E. brainpan), and also W. cob tuft, spider, cop, copa, top, summit, cobio to thump. Cf. {Cop} top, {Cup}, n.] 1. The top or head of anything. [Obs.] --W. Gifford. 2. A leader or chief; a conspicuous person, esp. a rich covetous person. [Obs.] All cobbing country chuffs, which make their bellies and their bags their god, are called rich cobs. --Nash. 3. The axis on which the kernels of maize or indian corn grow. [U. S.] 4. (Zo["o]l.) A spider; perhaps from its shape; it being round like a head. 5. (Zo["o]l.) A young herring. --B. Jonson. 6. (Zo["o]l.) A fish; -- also called {miller's thumb}. 7. A short-legged and stout horse, esp. one used for the saddle. [Eng.] 8. (Zo["o]l.) A sea mew or gull; esp., the black-backed gull ({Larus marinus}). [Written also {cobb}.] 9. A lump or piece of anything, usually of a somewhat large size, as of coal, or stone. 10. A cobnut; as, Kentish cobs. See {Cobnut}. [Eng.] 11. Clay mixed with straw. [Prov. Eng.] The poor cottager contenteth himself with cob for his walls, and thatch for his covering. --R. Carew. 12. A punishment consisting of blows inflicted on the buttocks with a strap or a flat piece of wood. --Wright. 13. A Spanish coin formerly current in Ireland, worth abiut 4s. 6d. [Obs.] --Wright. {Cob coal}, coal in rounded lumps from the size of an egg to that of a football; -- called also {cobbles}. --Grose. {Cob loaf}, a crusty, uneven loaf, rounded at top. --Wright. {Cob money}, a kind of rudely coined gold and silver money of Spanish South America in the eighteenth century. The coins were of the weight of the piece of eight, or one of its aliquot parts.
\Cob\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cobbed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Cobbing}.] 1. To strike [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell. 2. (Mining) To break into small pieces, as ore, so as to sort out its better portions. --Raymond. 3. (Naut.) To punish by striking on the buttocks with a strap, a flat piece of wood, or the like.