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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

3 entries under this word

Bob

Bŏb, n.

noun

n. [An onomatopoetic word. Cf. Icel. bobbi, knot, cockle-shell, Prov. Eng. bob, n., a ball, an engine beam, bunch, blast, trick, taunt, scoff; to dance, courtesy, to disappoint.] 1. Any thing that plays loosely, or with a short, abrupt motion, as at the end of a string; a pendant. In jewels dressed and at each ear a bob. Dryden. 2. A knot of worms, or of rags, on a string, used in angling, as for eels; formerly, a worm suitable for bait. Or yellow bobs, turned up before the plow, Are chiefest baits, with cork and lead enow. Lawson.

  1. The ball or heavy part of a pendulum; also the ball or weight at the end of a plumb-line.
  2. A short, jerking action; as, a bob of the head.
  3. A blow; a shake or jog; a jeer or flout; a trick.

He that a fool doth very wisely hit, Doth very foolishly, although he smart, Not to seem senseless of the bob. Shak. 6. The burden of a song. To bed, to bed, will be the bob of the song. L'Estrange. 7. A bob-wig. “A plain brown bob he wore.” Shenstone.

Bŏb, v. t.

verbtransitive

[imp. & p. p. BOBBED (bŏbd); p. pr. & vb. n. BOBBING.]

Sense 1. To move in a short, jerking manner; as, to bob a courtesy. “He bobbed his head.” Irving.

Sense 2. To beat; to strike with a quick, light blow.

If any man happened by long sitting to sleep ... he was suddenly bobbed on the face by the servants. Eliot.

Sense 3. To cheat; to gain by fraud. “Gold and jewels that I bobbed from him.” Shak.

Sense 4. To mock or delude.

To play her pranks, and bob the fool, The shrewish wife began. Turberville.

Sense 5. To cut short: to have the hair cut short; as, you have been bobbed: to bob a horse’s tail.

Bŏb, v. i.

verbintransitive

Sense 1. To have a short, jerking motion; to play to and fro, or up and down; to play loosely. “Bobbing and courtesying.” Thackeray. 2. To angle with a bob, or with a bobbing motion of the bait. “He ne’er had learned the art to bob For any thing but eels.” Saxe.