Also 5–6 cobbe. [Used in a number of senses having but little apparent connection with each other, and possibly of diverse origin. The notions may be roughly distinguished of ‘something big or stout,’ ‘something rounded or forming a roundish lump,’ ‘a head or top’; but these are intricately interwoven in individual senses. Thus cob = ‘cob-nut,’ can hardly be separated from the notion of ‘stout or big nut’ on the one hand, or from that of ‘fruit stone’ on the other. So sense 1 appears sometimes to mean ‘man at the top.’
It has been suggested that ‘rounded head’ is the radical notion, and that cob is a variant of COP; but the history of the latter does not favor this. In some of the senses under II, cobble, cobyll, was an earlier equivalent, but these senses are closely connected with others which have no equivalents in cobble.]
I. Containing the notion ‘big’ or ‘stout.’
1. A great man, big man, leading man; in mod. dial. expressing pre-eminence, as ‘chief,’ ‘leader,’ rather than state. (In the later use, the notion of ‘head,’ ‘top,’ may have entered in.)
a. 1420. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 101. Mayntenaunce … Sustenede is not by persones lowe; But cobbes grete this ryot sustene.
1535. St. Papers Hen. VIII., II. 228. Ther must be some of the gret cobbes served likewise, and the King to have ther landes.
1560. Daus, trans. Sleidane’s Comm., 119 b. Al the sorte of them occupie waxe, the poorer sorte, as I haue now tolde you, but the greatter cobbes, in sealyng their letters.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1684), II. 28/2. The greatest Cobs were yet behind.
1827. in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 769. For fishing and shuting he was the cob of all this country!
1869. Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob, leader or fighter, the bully or best fighter in a parish or school.
1884. Cheshire Gloss., Cob is also a leader: ‘This boy will be always cob’ = what is called at school ‘cock of the school.’ Sometimes pronounced cop.
† b. A wealthy man; a miser. Obs.
1548. Forrest, Pleas. Poesye, 88. That wone clubbed Cobbe should not so encroche an hundred mennys lyuynges.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke v. 68 b. The rich cobs of this worlde.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. 27. I would not haue a few rich cobs to get into their clowches almost whole countries.
1681. W. Robertson, Phraseol. Gen. (1693), 342. A rich Cob or miser, homo locuples & avarus.
† c. A huge, lumpish person. Obs.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 90. When the cob had maunged the gobets foule garbaged haulfe quick.
2. A male swan; also cob-swan.
1570. Order for Swannes, in Hone, Every-day Bk., II. 962. Till due proofe be had … whose was the Swan, that is away; Be it Cobbe or Pen.
1611. B. Jonson, Catiline, II. i. I’m not taken With a cob-swan, or a high-mounting bull, As foolish Leda and Europa were.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 122. The hee swanne is called the cobbe, and the she-swanne the penne.
1840. Browning, Sordello, II. 320. Out-soar them, cobswan of the silver flock! Sing well!
† 3. The name of a fish: see quots. Obs.
The sense ‘young herring’ given in mod. Dicts is perh. a misinterpretation of sense 8.
1611. Florio, Bozzolo … a fish called a millers thomb or a cob.
1655. Moufet & Bennet, Health’s Improv. (1746), 275. Kobs or Sea-Gudgeons.
[Cf. 1787. Grose, Provinc. Gloss., Cobbo, a small fish called a miller’s-thumb.
a. 1804. Boucher, MS. Dict., a small fish (the Miller’s Thumb) is in Kent called Cobbo.]
4. A short-legged, stout variety of horse, usually ridden by heavy persons. [Said by some to be short for cob-horse: see first quots.]
1818. Todd, Cob, a horse not castrated. In our northern dialect, cob is a testicle. Ibid., Suppl., It is used also generally for a strong pony.
1818–36. Richardson, Cob, anything round, a round stone. A cob, a horse who has his cobs.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), II. 201. If he comes to you riding a cob.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, x. He was well-mounted upon a sturdy chesnut cob.
1852. R. S. Surtees, Sponge’s Sp. Tour, xiv. 72. ‘That’s not a bad-like old cob of yours.’
1863. Morton, Cycl. Agric. (E. D. S.), Cob, a compact punchy horse.
II. Containing the notion ‘rounded,’ ‘roundish mass’ or ‘lump.’
5. Applied to various rounded solid bodies. In some of these cobyl, cobble occurs in earlier use.
a. = COB-NUT (in 15th c. cobyll-nut).
1589. Greene, Poems (1861), 291. Sit down, Carmela; here are Cobs for Kings, Sloes black as jet.
1829. Loudon, Encycl. Plants, 792. Corylus … grandis, Cob.
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 20 Oct., 4/2. What better place than here to sit and eat our filberts and cobs.
b. The stone of a fruit (in 15th c. cobyll-stone).
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Cob … the stony kernel of fruit.
1877. N. W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, the stone of fruit.
1886. S. W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, the stone of any fruit: ‘Don’t swallow the cobs.’
c. A testicle. dial.
1818–36. [see 4].
1847–78. Halliwell, Cobbs, testiculi. North.
d. ‘Cobs are also round Balls, or Pellets with which Fowls are usually crammed’ (Kersey, 1708).
6. Applied to various rounded heaps.
a. A small stack of hay or corn. dial.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 645. To haue euery Winter in your Warren a little cob or stacke of hay.
1847–78. Halliwell, Cob, a small hay-stack. Oxon.
1886. S. W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Cob, a small stack or heap of corn: ‘They’ve no-but two wheat stacks and a little cob.’
b. A bunch or knot of hair; a chignon.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 10 July, 10/2. A gentleman parading Rotten-row with a lady’s hair ‘cob,’ which he had picked up and stuck at the end of his stick.
1880. W. Cornwall Gloss., Cob, a bunch of hair on the forehead; often applied to the top locks of a horse’s mane.
c. A small heap or lump of (anything). dial.
1876. Blackmore, Cripps, lvi. 412. Stealing half the meat and all the little cobs of jelly.
1887. S. Cheshire Folk-sp., Cob, a small heap or lump: ‘a cob o’ dirt.’
7. Applied to various roundish or lumpy pieces: ‘something round, as a cob of coal, a cob of bread’ (Lanc. Gloss.). dial.
a. A small loaf of roundish form, a cob-loaf. b. See also quots. 1877, 1888.
1606–17. Cob-loaf [see IV].
1869. Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob, a small round loaf, a lump or piece.
1877. Archæol., XLV. 180. The cob was a cracknel made of fine flour.
1887. S. Cheshire Folk-sp., Cob, a small loaf: ‘Bring me a cob o’ bread.’
1888. Sheffield Gloss., Cob, a cake of bread.
c. A lump or large piece of coal (cf. COBBLE).
a. 1804. Cob-coal [see IV].
1865. S. Bamford, Wild Rider, in Harland, Lanc. Lyrics, 15. A broody hen crow’d from her perch on a cob.
1865. E. Waugh, in Harland, Ballads Lanc. (1875), 372. Aw’ve just mended th’ fire wi’ a cob.
1884. Cheshire Gloss., Cob or cobble, a lump of coal.
III. With the notion ‘head,’ ‘top.’
† 8. The head of a (red) herring. Obs.
1594. Nashe, Unfort. Trav., Wks. (Grosart), V. 14. Lord high regent of rashers of the coles and red herring cobs. Ibid. (1599), Lenten Stuffe, 59. Not a scrap … but the cobs of the two herrings the fisherman had eaten remained of him.
1598. B. Jonson, Ev. Man in Hum., I. iv. Cob (loq.) The first Red Herring that was broild in Adam and Eves Kitchin do I fetch my Pedigree from … His Cob was my great-great-mighty-great-grandfather.
1603. Sir C. Heydon, Jud. Astrol., xx. 405. He will not admit a stone to shine. And why not as wel as a peice of rotten wood, or a hearings cobbe in the darke?
1630. Dekker, 2nd Pt. Honest Wh., Wks. 1873, II. 147. He can come bragging hither with foure white Herrings (at’s taile) … but I may starue ere he giue me so much as a cob.
1632. Sherwood, s.v. Cob, A herring cob, la teste d’un harang sor.
9. See quot. dial. (perh. a local form of cop.)
1888. Sheffield Gloss., Cob, the top, e.g. ‘the cob of the hill.’
10. The seeding head of wheat, clover, etc. dial.
1847–78. Halliwell, Cob-poke, a bag carried by gleaners for receiving the cobs or broken ears of wheat.
1863. Morton, Cycl. Agric. (E. D. S.), Cob, the seed head of clover.
11. The cylindrical shoot or rachis on which the grains of maize grow.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., VI. vii. 69. In the year 1683 the House of Nicholas Desborough … was very strangely molested by Stones, by pieces of Earth, by Cobs of Indian Corn.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 7. The grains … are placed all round the stalk, which goes up the middle, and this little stalk, to which the seeds adhere, is called the Corn Cob.
1850. Lyell, 2nd Visit U.S., II. 72. Mills in which the grain, cob, and husk were all ground up together for the cattle and hogs.
1866. Livingstone, Jrnl. (1873), I. iii. 81. One cob had 1600 seeds.
IV. attrib. and Comb.: cob-like, -mounted adjs. (from 4), cob-pipe (fr. 11); cob-coal (see 7 c); cob-fly, name of a kind of angling fly (see quot.); cob-handle, a round wooden handle for tools; cob-house, a house built by children out of corncobs, hence applied fig. to any insecure or unsubstantial scheme, etc.; † cob-knight (see quot.); cob-loaf (see quot. 1617); cob-worm (Sc.), the larva of the cockchafer.
a. 1804. J. Boucher, MS. Dict., In the North large coals are generally called *Cob-coals.
1869. Lonsdale Gloss. (Philol. Soc.), Cob-coals, large pit-coals.
1870. Blaine, Encycl. Rural Sports, 1205. The March-brown of Mr. Hofland, better known here [in Wales] as the *cob-fly.
1873. J. Richards, Wood-working Factories, 113. To go into a wood-shop and find a job bench containing three or four files with the tips broken off, a *cob handle to be used between them … at once indicates the character of the establishment.
1826. Phenix Gaz. (Alexandria, VA), 21 April, 3/1. The honorable Senator … not only in the first instance, stripped it [argument of Mr. Mills] of its basis, but, afterwards, giving it a platform, proceeded to pull it to pieces, as if it were a mere *cob-house.
1881. W. W. Thomas, Jun. in Harper’s Mag., Nov., 824/2. George builds a cob-house of chips, and is soon rewarded with a blaze.
a. 1652. Brome, Damoiselle, I. i. Ali. How came he by his Knighthood? Cost it nothing? Ver. No: He was one oth’ *Cobbe-Knights in the throng, When they were dubd in Clusters.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 19 Sept., 2/1. Jinrikishas … drawn by one or more short *cob-like coolies, dressed only in shirt and drawers of blue cotton.
1606. Shaks., Tr. & Cr., II. i. 41. Ther. Thou should’st strike him. Aia. *Coblofe.
1617. Minsheu, Ductor Ling., Cobloafe or bunne … is a little loafe made with a round head.
1647. New Quaeres to Praelates, 15. Limping and dancing … like Mummers about a cobloafe.
1678. Aubrey, Wiltshire, in Brand (1853), I. 466.
1877. Archæol., XLV. 180. 120 cob loaves, each of 12 oz.
1879. Geo. Eliot, Theo. Such, ii. 41. Riding by the side of a larger *cob-mounted shadow.
1884. T. W. Higginson, in Harper’s Mag., July, 281/1. Mrs. Jackson … sat smoking her *corn-cob pipe.
1889. M. R. M. Davis, in Ibid. Dec., 119/2. With a cob pipe between his toothless gums.
1791–9. Statist. Acc. Fife, XIII. 29 (Jam.). Upon opening up their stomachs, he found them quite full of *cobworms.
