cobble

¹

[kob-uhl]

verb (used with object)

cobbled, cobbling 

1. to mend (shoes, boots, etc.); patch.

2. to put together roughly or clumsily.

cobble

²

[kob-uhl]

noun

1. a cobblestone.

2. cobbles, coal in lumps larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder.

3. Metalworking.

   1. a defect in a rolled piece resulting from loss of control over its movement.

   2. Slang.,  a piece showing bad workmanship.

verb (used with object)

cobbled, cobbling 

1. to pave with cobblestones.

cobble

³

[kob-uhl]

noun

1. New England, New York State, and New Jersey.,  (especially in placenames) a rounded hill.

cobble

¹

/ ˈkɒbəl /

noun

1. short for cobblestone

2. geology a rock fragment, often rounded, with a diameter of 64–256 mm and thus smaller than a boulder but larger than a pebble

verb

1. (tr) to pave (a road) with cobblestones

cobble

²

/ ˈkɒbəl /

verb

1. to make or mend (shoes)

2. to put together clumsily

cobble

1. A rock fragment larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder. Pebbles have a diameter between 64 and 256 mm (2.56 and 10.24 inches) and are often rounded.

Other Word Forms

• cobbled adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cobble¹

First recorded in 1490–1500; apparently back formation from cobbler

Origin of cobble²

First recorded in 1595–1605; of uncertain origin; perhaps cob + -le; cobblestone

Origin of cobble³

First recorded in 1885–95; perhaps from cobble ²

Word History and Origins

Origin of cobble¹

C15 (in cobblestone ): from _cob ¹

Origin of cobble²

C15: back formation from _cobbler ¹

Example Sentences

Plastic food containers and trays are stacked and wired with lights, feeling at once like retro-futuristic inventions and something cobbled together after the apocalypse.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

The company is starting to cobble together the equipment it needs for these power plants, but so far it’s an ambitious vision without much physical progress.

Read more on Barron's

This includes expanding programs that provide payment — in the form of debit cards, which Burke has likened to an “Amazon gift card” — to parents to cobble together customized educational plans for their children.

Read more on Salon

Without Socialist involvement in the next government, Lecornu's best hope is to cobble together a revitalised centrist cabinet with the Republicans - known as the socle commun - or common platform.

Read more on BBC

At best, he might just cobble together a deal and ward off immediate defeat in the Assembly.

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Related Words

• assemble 
• complete 
• construct 
• create 
• fabricate 
• mass-produce 
• synthesize