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• bob
  bob

  noun

  a short, jerky motion.
• Bob
  Bob

  noun

  a first name, form of Robert.

bob

¹ American  

[bob] / bɒb /

noun

1. a short, jerky motion.

   a bob of the head.

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verb (used with object)

bobbed, bobbing

1. to move quickly down and up.

   to bob the head.

2. to indicate with such a motion.

   to bob a greeting.

verb (used without object)

bobbed, bobbing

1. to make a jerky motion with the head or body.

2. to move about with jerky, usually rising and falling motions.

   The ball bobbed upon the waves.

verb phrase

1. bob up to emerge or appear, especially unexpectedly.

   A familiar face bobbed up in the crowd.

bob ² American  

[bob] / bɒb /

noun

1. a style of short haircut for women and children.

2. a docked horse's tail.

3. a dangling or terminal object, as the weight on a pendulum or a plumb line.

4. a short, simple line in a verse or song, especially a short refrain or coda.

5. Angling.

   1. a knot of worms, rags, etc., on a string.

   2. a float for a fishing line.

6. a bobsled or bob skate.

7. Scot. a bunch, cluster, or wad, especially a small bouquet of flowers.

8. Obsolete. walking beam.

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verb (used with object)

bobbed, bobbing

1. to cut short; dock.

   They bobbed their hair to be in style.

verb (used without object)

bobbed, bobbing

1. to try to snatch floating or dangling objects with the teeth.

   to bob for apples.

2. Angling. to fish with a bob.

bob ³ American  

[bob] / bɒb /

noun

1. a tap; light blow.

2. a polishing wheel of leather, felt, or the like.

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verb (used with object)

bobbed, bobbing

1. to tap; strike lightly.

bob ⁴ American  

[bob] / bɒb /

noun

British Informal.

• bob
  plural

1. a shilling.

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Bob ⁵ American  

[bob] / bɒb /

noun

1. a first name, form of Robert.

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bob ¹ British  

/ bɒb /

verb

1. to move or cause to move up and down repeatedly, as while floating in water

2. to move or cause to move with a short abrupt movement, as of the head

3. to make (a bow or curtsy)

   the little girl bobbed before the visitor

4. to appear or emerge suddenly

5. (intr; foll by under, below, etc) to disappear suddenly, as beneath a surface

6. to attempt to get hold (of a floating or hanging object, esp an apple) in the teeth as a game

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noun

1. a short abrupt movement, as of the head

2. a quick curtsy or bow

3. Leisure:Bell-ringing a particular set of changes

4. angling

   1. short for bobfloat

   2. the topmost fly on a cast of three, often fished bobbing at the surface

   3. this position on a wet-fly cast

bob ² British  

/ bɒb /

noun

1. a hairstyle for women and children in which the hair is cut short evenly all round the head

2. a dangling or hanging object, such as the weight on a pendulum or on a plumb line

3. a polishing disc on a rotating spindle. It is usually made of felt, leather, etc, impregnated with an abrasive material

4. short for bob skate bobsleigh

5. a runner or pair of runners on a bobsled

6. angling a small knot of worms, maggots, etc, used as bait

7. a very short line of verse at the end of a stanza or preceding a rhyming quatrain (the wheel) at the end of a stanza

8. a refrain or burden with such a short line or lines

9. a docked tail, esp of a horse

10. dialect a hanging cluster, as of flowers or ribbons

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verb

1. (tr) to cut (the hair) in a bob

2. (tr) to cut short (something, esp the tail of an animal); dock or crop

3. (intr) to ride on a bobsled

bob ³ British  

/ bɒb /

verb

1. to tap or cause to tap or knock lightly (against)

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noun

1. a light knock; tap

Bob ⁴ British  

/ bɒb /

noun

1. slang everything is or will turn out all right

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bob ⁵ British  

/ bɒb /

noun

1. (formerly) an informal word for a shilling

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bob
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of bob¹

First recorded in 1400–50, bob is from the late Middle English word bobben. See bob ²

Origin of bob²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English bobbe (noun) “spray, cluster, bunch (of leaves, flowers, fruit, etc.)”; of uncertain origin

Origin of bob³

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English bobben “to strike, beat,” perhaps imitative; see bop ²

Origin of bob⁴

First recorded in 1780–90; origin unknown; perhaps from Bob

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Explanation

To bob is to dip up and down, the way something does when it floats on the surface of water. A lobster buoy bobs in the ocean, marking the spot where a lobsterman's trap is set. Your friend stands out when her red hat bobs among a crowd of people, and so does a red boat as it bobs on a lake. You might bob your head to indicate agreement or get a short haircut that's also called a bob. The motion bob comes from the Old English bobben, "to strike," while the hair style stems from the earlier bobbe, or "cluster," and first referred a trimmed horse's tail.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bob Bob bobbed bobbing

When asked directly if this series was his final bow, he laughed: "I think so, unless someone offers me a few bob to go back and do something else."

From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2026

During our Zoom, with the background carefully faded behind her wavy blond bob, she promises that she doesn’t just copy and paste her subjects and settings from what sells.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

As if to distinguish herself further from the sea of Fox News look- and think-alikes, she cut her long blond waves into a modest bob.

From Slate ● May 6, 2026

The two had a romance in the postcard-perfect city, where high-rise condos climb hillsides as fishing boats bob off the coast—all framed by the Sierra Madre mountains.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 23, 2026

Ben looked up at it, then he looked at the bulletlike silhouette of Luster’s head in the window and he begun to bob his head again, drooling.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Bob Jones’s policies were contemptible, open and notorious, and—in the court’s view—so integral to the school that they defined the institution’s “purpose.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 1, 2026

In the 3rd District, businessman Tim Gaspar and longtime local government employee Barri Worth Girvan are vying to replace Bob Blumenfield, who is termed out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Bob Cryan, the Vice Chancellor of the university, said Stewart was "very proud" of being chancellor and his success never changed him.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Mr. Thomas does a dead-on Walter Cronkite, and a brutal Bob Hope.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

He was roughly the same height as Bob, with elaborate Stygian iron armor, a single diamond blazing in the center of his breastplate.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

So in 1992, wearing flares, a bottle green jacket and a yellow headband over her bobbed blonde hair, van Heel appeared on the hit ITV programme.

From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026

On a recent morning, two surfers bobbed up and down on their boards directly in front of the new Club Med.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

The enthusiasm was apparent as the catamaran bobbed around the future site of Pier Wind, which recently received a $20-million grant from the California Energy Commission.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026

With her brown bobbed haircut and round sunglasses, Pelicot has become an international feminist symbol, inspiring a change to French rape laws and a public reckoning with the problem of drugging women.

From Barron's ● Feb. 11, 2026

And then Finn was waking up, lifting his head from where it bobbed against Chess’s shoulder.

From "The Strangers" by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Wolff saw him bobbing around a go-kart track and convinced himself that the boy was at least worth a gamble.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

“I’m a suburban dude,” he said, smiling from his home in metro Atlanta, his cropped two-toned dreads bobbing as he spoke.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 21, 2026

He says his son should attack Garcia using suffocating, bobbing aggression - the kind that Nigel used to blow out Iran Barkley in 1990.

From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026

Now we are four confused people bobbing up and down in this cauldron of unbearable repetition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

This dumb old Charlotte boat wasn’t sailing forward any longer; it was only bobbing up and down.

From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret

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