lob

¹

[lob]

verb (used with object)

lobbed, lobbing 

1. Tennis.,  to hit (a ball) in a high arc to the back of the opponent's court.

2. to fire (a missile, as a shell) in a high trajectory so that it drops onto a target.

3. Cricket.,  to bowl (the ball) with a slow underhand motion.

4. to throw (something) slowly in an arc.

verb (used without object)

lobbed, lobbing 

1. Tennis.,  to lob a ball.

noun

1. Tennis.,  a ball hit in a high arc to the back of the opponent's court.

2. Cricket.,  a ball bowled with a slow underhand motion.

3. British Dialect.,  a slow, heavy, dull-witted person.

lob

²

[lob]

noun

1. lobworm.

lob

¹

/ lɒb /

noun

1. a ball struck in a high arc

2. cricket a ball bowled in a slow high arc

verb

1. to hit or kick (a ball) in a high arc

2. informal,  to throw, esp in a high arc

lob

²

/ lɒb /

noun

1. short for lobworm

Other Word Forms

• lobber noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of lob¹

1325–75; in earlier sense, to behave like a lob ( Middle English lobbe, lob bumpkin, clumsy person, originally pollack; Old English: spider; basic sense, something pendulous); cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch lobbe dangling part, stockfish, etc.

Word History and Origins

Origin of lob¹

C14: probably of Low German origin, originally in the sense: something dangling; compare Middle Low German lobbe hanging lower lip, Old English loppe spider

Origin of lob²

C17 (in the sense: pendulous object): related to _lob ¹

Example Sentences

He has served since 2022 as ambassador to Yemen, managing relations at a turbulent time as the United States bombed Huthi rebels that have lobbed missiles at Israel in professed solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.

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He has been lobbing cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukraine for years.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

But Mr. Putin has been lobbing cruise and ballistic missiles at Ukraine for years, and there’s nothing escalatory about return fire.

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He says “Oklahoma!” is “nostalgic for a world that never existed,” but such a charge could be lobbed at many other wonderful period pieces.

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When two grenades slid across the floor of a basement in Kibbutz Alumim, he lunged forward, picked up one and lobbed it to safety.

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Related Words

• flip 
• hurl 
• loft