Also 6 lobbe. [ad. late L. lobus, a. Gr. λοβός lobe of the ear, of the liver, capsule or pod of leguminous plants:—pre-Hellenic *logw- cogn. with *legw- in L. legūmen pod, legula lobe of the ear. Cf. F. lobe (16th c.).]
1. A roundish projecting part, usually one of two or more similar portions into which an object is divided by a fissure. a. One of the divisions of the liver or lungs formed by the fissures.
[1525. trans. Jerome of Brunswick’s Surg., B iv/1. The longues hath .v. lobos or feders.]
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Chirurg., H j b. Demaunde, Howe many lobbes hath the lunges? Answere. .v. Thre in the ryght party and two in the lefte.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 75. These eminences are neither to be called Lobes, Fibres, nor wynges.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., III. ii. 108. The lobes and severall parcells of the liver.
1667. N. Fairfax, in Phil. Trans., II. 549. The left Lobe of the Lungs almost quite wasted.
1802. Paley, Nat. Theol., xi. (ed. 2), 202. The heart lies on the left side; a lobe of the lungs on the right.
1845. Budd, Dis. Liver, 320. The liver was found of large size, and its left lobe reached over the stomach into the left hypochondrium.
1859. Darwin, Orig. Spec., xiv. (1873), 397. In snakes one lobe of the lungs is rudimentary.
b. The lower soft pendulous part of the external ear.
1719. Quincy, Lex. Physico-Med. (1722), 124/1. The external [ear] is … divided into two parts, of which the upper is called Pinna, or the Wing, the lower Fibra, or Lobe.
1807–26. S. Cooper, First Lines Surg. (ed. 5), 393. An incision was begun over the condyloid process, opposite the lobe of the ear.
1844. Dickens, Mart. Chuz., ix. Pursued and brought back by the hair of his head, or the lobe of his ear.
1871. G. Meredith, H. Richmond, xli. (1889), 370. Her ear … was of a very pretty shape, with a soft unpierced lobe.
c. Bot. † (a) A pod, capsule or fruit-case. Obs. (b) A rounded projection or division of a leaf (sometimes, of other organs) of a plant.
1671. Grew, Anat. Plants, I. i. (1682), 3. Some very few Seeds are divided, not into two Lobes, but into more. Ibid. (1681), Musæum, II. v. 211. Of Berrys, Cones, Lobes, and some other parts of Trees. Ibid., 212. A Long Flat Lobe…. Its whole Cavity is filled up with one single Fruit.
1731. Miller, Gard. Dict. (1733), s.v., A Pea or Bean being committed to the Ground, is first found to cleave into two Parts, which are, as it were, two Leaves or Lobes of the Placenta.
1760. J. Lee, Introd. Bot., II. viii. (1765), 90. Such as have the Lobes of the Corollæ bent obliquely to the Right.
1784. Cowper, Task, III. 522. Then rise the tender germs, upstarting quick And spreading wide their spongy lobes.
1845. Lindley, Sch. Bot., iv. (1858), 26 c. Leaves divided palmately into many narrow lobes.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 570. Corolla monopetalous, and bearing … as many stamens as it has lobes.
1875. Darwin, Insectiv. Pl., xiii. 292. The immersion of a leaf in pure water sometimes caused the lobes to close.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot., III. iv. 98. Lobe is the common name of one of the parts of a simple blade, especially when there is only one order of incision.
d. One of the divisions of the brain. Also, in the cerebellum, a group of folia marked off by unusually deep fissures.
1672. Wiseman, Wounds, I. 134. A maid servant was shot into the right side of the Sinciput … she lived as long, viz. until the Lobe of the Brain was wrought out or corrupted.
1719. Quincy, Lex. Physico-Med. (1722), s.v., Bidloo uses the diminutive Lobellus, for [sic] little Lobe, for the four Processes of the Brain.
1831. R. Knox, Cloquet’s Anat., 411. The middle lobes of the brain, separated from the posterior by a groove directed obliquely backwards.
1849. Noad, Electricity (ed. 3), 461. Of the four lobes of the brain, the fourth only is found to actuate the electric current; it is hence called the electric lobe.
1851. Carpenter, Man. Phys. (ed. 2), 558. That the Lobes of the Cerebellum are the parts specially concerned in the regulation of the muscular movements.
1872. Huxley, Physiol., viii. 196. The olfactory lobes which … form … a part of the brain.
e. Zool. A rounded projection or part of an organ.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. 357. Lobi (the Lobes), the parts of the Maxilla above the Palpus.
1828. Stark, Elem. Nat. Hist., I. 352. The Galley Wasp … Two little lobes before the tympanum.
1843. Yarrell, Brit. Birds, III. 42. The vignette represents the structure of the foot … one lobe on each side each of the phalanges.
1846. Patterson, Zool., 34. The lobes of the mouth become more or less distended.
1849. Murchison, Siluria, xiii. 342. The upper lobe of the tail.
1893. Newton, Dict. Birds, 382. Their [sc. grebes’] feet … have the tarsi flattened and elongated toes furnished with broad lobes of skin.
f. The larger or most important and projecting part of a cam-wheel.
1855. Ogilvie, Suppl. s.v., The lobe of a cam-wheel is the portion of curve between two minor distances from the centre of rotation, and including a major distance between them. If the wheel has n lobes, then 2π/n is the lobe-angle and there are n lobes in a revolution.
g. Geol. A great marginal projection from the body of a continental ice sheet.
1889. Nature, 3 Oct., 558. The moraines can be traced around continuously from one lobe to another.
h. gen.
1877. J. Wells, Bible Echoes, iv. 47. You have often seen little lobes of gum on the bark of such trees as the fir-tree.
2. attrib. and Comb., as lobe-like adj.; lobe-angle Mech. (see quot. 1855 in 1 f); lobe-berry, the seaside grape, Coccoloba uvifera, of the West Indies (Treas. Bot., 1866); lobe-foot, a lobe-footed bird; lobe-footed a., having lobate feet, as some birds; † lobe-leaf, a foliole of a compound leaf; lobe-plate (see quot.).
1833. P. J. Selby, Illustr. Brit. Ornith., II. 166. In the Orkneys … the Red *Lobefoot is a common species.
1835. Jenyns, Man. Brit. Vertebr. Anim., 214. Lobipes hyperboreus Steph. (Red Lobefoot).
1890. Coues, Field & Gen. Ornithol., II. 190. In all truly *lobe-footed birds, as coots,… grebes,… and phalaropes.
1758. Ellis, in Phil. Trans., L. 446. Because they have an equal number of pinnæ, or *lobe-leaves, on the whole leaf of each tree.
1849–52. Todd, Cycl. Anat., IV. 1224/2. *Lobe-like expansions.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., *Lobe-plate, a strong piece of cast-iron laid upon the keelson, etc., to support the parts of a marine steam-engine.
