hob

¹

[ hob ]

noun

1. a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm.
2. a rounded peg or pin used as a target in quoits and similar games.
3. a game in which such a peg is used.
4. Machinery. a milling cutter for gear and sprocket teeth, splines, threads, etc., having helically arranged teeth and fed across the work as the work is rotated.

verb (used with or without object)

, hobbed, hob·bing.

1. Machinery. to cut with a hob.

hob

²

[ hob ]

noun

1. a hobgoblin or elf.

hob

¹

/ hɒb /

noun

1. the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates or burners
2. a shelf beside an open fire, for keeping kettles, etc, hot
3. a steel pattern used in forming a mould or die in cold metal
4. a hard steel rotating cutting tool used in machines for cutting gears

verb

1. tr to cut or form with a hob

hob

²

/ hɒb /

noun

1. a hobgoblin or elf
2. a male ferret
3. raise hob or play hob informal.
   to cause mischief or disturbance

Derived Forms

• ˈhobˌlike, adjective

Other Words From

• hob·ber noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of hob¹

First recorded in 1505–15; variant of obsolete hub “hob (in a fireplace)”; perhaps identical with hub

Origin of hob²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, special use of Hob(be), for Robert or Robin

Word History and Origins

Origin of hob¹

C16: variant of obsolete hubbe, of unknown origin; perhaps related to hub

Origin of hob²

C14: variant of Rob, short for Robin or Robert

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. play hob with, to do mischief or harm to:

   The child played hob with my radio, and now it won't work at all.

2. raise hob, to cause a destructive commotion; behave disruptively:

   They raised such hob with their antagonistic questions that the meeting broke up.

Example Sentences

The energy, generated from food and garden waste from the surrounding houses, is supplied to the center’s kitchen hob through a pipe.

From Singularity Hub 

Can I go hob-nob, maybe make some sweet business connections?

From The Daily Beast

He loved hob-nobbing with the great and not-so-great, his emotions vulnerable to flattery—and rejection.

From The Daily Beast

One evening at tea, a copper kettle, with hot water, stood on the hob.

From Project Gutenberg

And he's been hob-nobbing with some old friends who have turned up at one of the big hotels—I forget which.

From Project Gutenberg

In the winter Snow-white lit the fire and hung the kettle on the hob.

From Project Gutenberg

For he too was famous in his own sphere; and in the drawing-room of Wilkins's one celebrity was hob-nobbing with another!

From Project Gutenberg

This comes of your princesses, that turn the world upside down, and demean themselves to hob and nob with these black baldicoots!

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• gnome
• goblin
• imp
• leprechaun