a small pocket just below the waistline in pants, designed for a watch, keys, change, etc.
especially formerly,
a short chain or ribbon, usually with a medallion or similar ornament, attached to a watch and worn hanging from a pocket.
the medallion or ornament itself.
The fob allows students 24/7 access into the residence building and their rooms.
I could never find my nail clipper in my purse, so now I’m using it as a fob on my keychain.
a chain or ribbon by which a pocket watch is attached to a waistcoat
any ornament hung on such a chain
a small pocket in a man's waistcoat, for holding a watch
a metal or plastic tab on a key ring
First recorded in 1645–55; origin uncertain; compare dialectal German Fuppe, Low German Fobke “pocket”
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English fobben; perhaps cognate with German foppen “to delude, kid, tease” ( cf. fop) or, alternatively, akin to French fourbe “cheat, swindler” (from Old French forbir “to clean”; see furbish ( def. ))
First recorded in 1870–75
A fob is a chain that holds an old-fashioned pocket watch. If your grandfather carries his watch around in a little pocket in his vest, it's probably attached with a fob. It's uncommon to see a watch fob these days, but they were once as ordinary as the watches they held. The little pockets sewn in men's clothing were also fobs, and today, a key chain is sometimes called a fob. When fob is a verb, it means to fool people or play a trick on them, especially by giving them something less valuable than they expect. This meaning is from the obsolete fobbe, "cheater."
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The car has its enjoyable quirks: The hatch glass opens up with the press of a key fob button.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 13, 2026
The doors typically don’t unlock when I approach the car until I pull out the key fob and hit the unlock button.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 20, 2025
The shock came days later when he took the car to a local Kia dealership to ask about a faulty button on the key fob designed to access the boot.
From BBC • Dec. 7, 2025
“My props master came through and had the most beautiful watch fob with the head of a wolf on it.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 18, 2024
I slipped my watch chain through my waistcoat buttonhole and straightened the fob, a Romanian silver leu whose details were worn to shadows.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
