cobble
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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to mend (shoes, boots, etc.); patch.
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to put together roughly or clumsily.
noun
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a cobblestone.
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cobbles, coal in lumps larger than a pebble and smaller than a boulder.
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Metalworking.
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a defect in a rolled piece resulting from loss of control over its movement.
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Slang. a piece showing bad workmanship.
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verb (used with object)
noun
noun
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short for cobblestone
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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
verb
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to make or mend (shoes)
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to put together clumsily
Other Word Forms
Etymology
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; see cobblestone
Origin of cobble3
First recorded in 1885–95; perhaps from cobble 2
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But if you’re doing it on your own, you can cobble together all of this information and put it in a spreadsheet.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026
Most parents lose sleep over the amount of piecemeal work required to cobble together a summer schedule; very few relish the planning and spreadsheets and carpool rota involved in keeping their kids safe and occupied.
From Salon ● Jun. 24, 2026
The “gig economy” entered the lingo in 2009, as increasing numbers of people tried to cobble two or more part-time, no-benefit “gigs” into a living wage.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
She comes only once a week, paid for by whatever funds the clinic can cobble together.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2026
I was growing tired of spending time and money trying to cobble together a wardrobe that satisfied my aesthetic and my religious beliefs.
From "Proud" by Ibtihaj Muhammad
At night, the narrow cobbled streets of Old Havana are enveloped in inky black, devoid of power and virtually deserted.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
That last element illustrated a sport in rude health and again raised the question of why organisers had not run the traditional closing stage over the scenic cobbled hill before its debut visit last year.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
Firetrucks squeezed through the narrow cobbled streets and tiny archways leading to the cathedral.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Beneath are the roofs and cobbled streets of the medieval Old Town, where ancient pubs stand among jewelers specializing in local jet.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
At the corner a narrow cobbled alley led between it and the next building, and Will went down there too, looking up, getting the measure of the place.
From "The Subtle Knife" by Philip Pullman
"I'm interested in cobbling stuff together out of bits of junk and my scale has been increasing recently so things have been getting bigger," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
Belgium's complex political system means that De Wever is well versed in the art of painstaking negotiations and cobbling together compromise deals.
From Barron's ● Dec. 17, 2025
But Comstock has so far been the most aggressive in cobbling together its empire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2025
It was essentially cobbling together a Frankenstein résumé from leftover pieces of information harvested from my search history, and passing it off as my own work experience.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2025
So he did his first experiment at the University of Utah by cobbling together about $30 in parts.
From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
