[perh. identical with COB sb.1 sense 1, as the biggest silver coin.] A name given in the 17th and 18th centuries in Ireland, and subsequently in some British colonies and possessions, to the Spanish dollar or ‘piece of eight.’
1672. Petty, Pol. Anat., 350. Spanish pieces of eight, called cobs in Ireland.
1681. Dineley, Jrnl. Tour Irel., in Trans. Kilkenny Archæol. Soc., Ser. II. II. 55. The most usual money … is Spanish Coyne knowne here by the name of a cob, an half cob and a quarter cob.
1745. P. Thomas, Jrnl. Anson’s Voy., 99. A considerable Quantity of Cob Dollars, and wrought Plate.
1784. T. Sheridan, Life Swift, § 1 (T.). He … poured out the contents, which were silver cobs, upon the table.
1822. Scott, Pirate, xxxi. ‘And so you came for your share of the cobs?’
1835. Kelly, Cambist, 164. The Spanish dollar circulating at Gibraltar is commonly called a ‘cob.’
Comb. cob-money (U.S.): see quots.
1865. Thoreau, Cape Cod, viii. 148. Pieces of silver called cob-money.
1868. B. J. Lossing, Hudson, 80, note. The old silver coins occasionally found at Fort Edward are called ‘cob-money’ by the people.
