cob
noun
a corncob.
cob
1 American
[kob]
/ kɒb /
noun
-
cobs
plural
-
a corncob.
-
a male swan.
-
a short-legged, thick-set horse, often having a high gait and frequently used for driving.
-
British. a mixture of clay and straw, used as a building material.
-
British Dialect. a rounded mass or lump.
-
a crude silver or gold Spanish-American coin of the 16th to 18th centuries, characteristically irregular in shape and bearing only a partial impression of the dies from which it was struck.
COB
2
American
abbreviation
Business.
cob
1
British
/ kɒb /
noun
-
a male swan
-
a thickset short-legged type of riding and draught horse
-
short for corncob corncob pipe cobnut
-
another name for hazel
-
a small rounded lump or heap of coal, ore, etc
-
a building material consisting of a mixture of clay and chopped straw
-
Also called: cob loaf. a round loaf of bread
verb
cob
2
British
/ kɒb /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of cob
First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English cobbe “male swan, leader of a gang”; these and various subsequent senses are obscurely related and probably in part of distinct origin
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:
This version leans hard into fresh corn, still in its cool green husks and already smelling sweet before you cut it from the cob.
From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026
At its simplest, freshly cut corn straight off the cob is perfectly delectable.
From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2025
Pedersen broke down her options while sitting on a pinkish firepit and curved bench made from cob.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025
Unlike materials like cob, straw bale is adopted in the California residential building code.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2025
Macon returned with a basket and avalanched pink shrimp, corn on the cob, and red potatoes across the paper-covered table.
From "Caterpillar Summer" by Gillian McDunn
The COB has joined calls for Paz to step down.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
Eighteen of the 21 people killed in encounters with police officers during the four-year period were Black, and three were white, the COB report shows.
From Seattle Times ● May 5, 2021
“I need this done by COB tomorrow,” Manafort emailed Gates at 3 a.m. the next day.
From Washington Post ● Aug. 10, 2018
"COB" was Jeremy Corbyn's codename, that much was obvious.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2018
Therefore the angle POP' is constant, being equal to half the constant angle AOC + COB.
From An Elementary Course in Synthetic Projective Geometry by Derrick Norman Lehmer
It looks like charcoal, but the black briquettes are actually made from plant waste: millet and sesame stalks, palm fronds and cobs.
From Barron's ● Apr. 24, 2026
Within an hour, the cobs will be inside a refrigerated pack-house and chilled down to 0C.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
I learned that the distillery makes its bourbon from local Jimmy Red corn, which was two cobs away from extinction before High Wire rescued it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 2, 2026
Above, a large skylight is adorned with hundreds of suspended corn cobs, their illuminated forms offering one of the few sources of light in the dark and moody, monochromatic space.
From Salon ● Oct. 13, 2024
I laid the cobs out on our makeshift grill while Togbe cut the pawpaws with the cutlass and scooped out black seeds.
From "Flying Through Water" by Mamle Wolo
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.
