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
Three governments in France have collapsed in less than a year, as they struggled to cobble together support in the fragmented National Assembly to pass a budget and narrow France’s widening deficit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 13, 2025
When she finally got a fire going, she set about trying to cobble together an evening meal for Harry and the boys.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
Last year organisers ASO introduced a circuit which takes on a cobbled climb over the city's famous Montmartre hill, changing the parcours enough to encourage the heavier, more powerful riders to challenge for victory.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 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
A leather factory worker in Minnesota who had fled El Salvador, Aguilar cobbled together the money in installments through loans from friends and that year’s tax refund.
From Salon ● May 2, 2026
Luke didn’t say much, not then or the next morning when Toby woke up and Luke had somehow cobbled together enough money for some frozen waffles.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
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
Time is tight and the bar is high – cobbling together 80 people willing to back you in a handful of days isn't easy.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2025
Workers scrambled to get the pumping system back online, patching the hoses that could be salvaged and cobbling together any new hoses they could find to replace the ones that could not.
From "Meltdown" by Deirdre Langeland
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.
