Inflected lobbed, lobbing. [f. LOB sb.2]
† 1. intr. To behave like a ‘lob’ or lout. Obs.
1596. J. Smyth, in Lett. Lit. Men (Camden), 92. There is no man that doth well knowe mee, that will beeleeve that I would (if I had not been distempered by surfett and drinke) ryde lobbinge and dawinge to rayle at your Lordship.
2. trans. To cause or allow to hang heavily; to droop. ? Obs. exc. slang.
1599. Shaks., Hen. V., IV. ii. 57. Their poore Iades Lob downe their heads, dropping the hides and hips.
1821. Egan, Real Life in Lond., I. 187. The dancing party … were lobbing their lollys [= heads] on … the table.
3. intr. To move heavily or clumsily; to walk along with a slow lumbering movement. Of a cabman: To ‘crawl’ or ‘prowl’ in search of a fare.
1819. Paul Bobbin, Sequel, 21 (E. D. D.). So off I lobb’d.
1843. Blackw. Mag., LIII. 81. Keeping a sharp look-out for any night cabman who may be ‘lobbing,’ as the phrase is, off his stand.
1847. Halliwell, s.v., To lob along, to walk loungingly.
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, II. 363. The lion … may next be seen lobbing up some open grassy ascent.
[1865: see LOBBING vbl. sb.]
1887. L. Oliphant, Episodes, 86. The enemy’s shells came lobbing into it [the trench].
1898. A. Lawley, in Blackw. Mag., Dec., 744/1. We crammed our ponies across the veldt, lobbing and lurching through the heavy sand.
4. trans. To throw heavily or clumsily; to toss or bowl with a slow movement. In Lawn-tennis, to strike (a ball) well into the air so as to fall at the back of the opponent’s court; also absol.
1847. Halliwell, Lob. (1) To throw gently. Sussex.… (7) To cast or throw. Durham.
1880. Maitland, in Encycl. Brit., XI. 313/2. Suppose … that shell are being lobbed from behind a parapet at high angles into a work.
1884. Mil. Engineering (ed. 3), I. II. 70. Sandbags … which are pulled down one by one, and … lobbed over the others by hand.
1889. W. M. Brownlee, Lawn-Tennis, 141. If you can lob at a good pace just over his head, you may beat him altogether, and score. Ibid., 142. Sweet … lobbed to him six balls in succession.
1891. R. Kipling, Life’s Handicap, 87. Martini-Henri carbines that would lob a bullet into an enemy’s camp at one thousand yards.
5. Brewing. To add ‘lob’ (see LOB sb.2 5) to (wort).
1838. [see LOBBING vbl. sb.].
6. Metallurgy. (See quot.)
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Lobbing (Metallurgy), breaking blocks of ore into pieces with the hammer, for assortment as to quality with such ores as copper, and for more effectual treatment in the preparatory roasting or calcining processes.
Hence Lobbed ppl. a.
1883. Pall Mall Gaz., 17 July, 4/1. [Champion Lawn Tennis] A lobbed return with a twist.
