fob
noun
a small pocket just below the waistline in pants, designed for a watch, keys, change, etc.
fob
1 American
[fob]
/ fɒb /
noun
-
fobs
plural
-
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.
fob
2
American
[fob]
/ fɒb /
verb (used with object)
fobbed,
fobbing
verb phrase
f.o.b.
3
American
Or
F.O.B.
abbreviation
Commerce.
fob
1
British
/ fɒb /
noun
-
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
fob
2
British
/ fɒb /
verb
fob
3
British
/ fɒb /
noun
f.o.b.
4
British
abbreviation
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of fob1
First recorded in 1645–55; origin uncertain; compare dialectal German Fuppe, Low German Fobke “pocket”
Origin of fob2
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. ))
Origin of f.o.b.3
First recorded in 1870–75
Explanation
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."
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:
It’s roughly the same size as my 2011-era car key fob and it sticks out, especially on small wrists.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 9, 2026
It pops out when it needs to be used, either automatically through the user’s key fob or phone, or manually by pressing the handle.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 3, 2026
Mr Heathcote agreed with the assessment, suggesting that a radio signal from a phone or car fob may have been the trigger.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2024
He was identified by a golf hat and a distinct key fob that he was wearing during the riot that matched other online photos of Mr Williams.
From BBC ● Nov. 14, 2024
She started walking from room to room, opening drawers and closet doors, and I fob lowed her.
From "When You Reach Me" by Rebecca Stead
For entirely proper reasons, they had refused to ship any sugar this year at the 1945 price of $3.10 per 100 lbs. f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
The U.S. will buy the tin outright at $1.18 a pound, f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
While the used-elephant market has been seriously depressed by automation, a mahout-maintained model with buck et seat, two-tone umbrella and stick shift costs up to $1,500 f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sears did not set a retail price but it now sells for $1,362 f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
A Detroit manufacturer sends you f.o.b. prices on his motor wagons.
From Business English A Practice Book by Rose Buhlig
"They're in all modern cell phones, key fobs, garage door openers, most GPS receivers, many radar systems and more."
From Science Daily ● Jan. 17, 2026
Hikers carry fobs and must scan in at four checkpoints 7 miles apart and depart by a certain time or quit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 27, 2025
The watchdog identified an "inflexible and indiscriminate" approach to the use of key fobs to control access to internal doors and gates, regardless of whether service users had capacity.
From BBC ● May 15, 2025
Automakers have started adding motion sensors to key fobs.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
Most gang members in the Barrel loved flash: gaudy waistcoats, watch fobs studded with false gems, trousers in every print and pattern imaginable.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
But 59-year-old Franklin said she had been "fobbed off" by the company.
From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026
Some feel "fobbed off" that concerns over side effects are not taken seriously and are also fed up of bearing the "contraceptive burden", says Hall.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
When the nurses raised their concerns, they "genuinely felt they were not being taken seriously" and were "being in essence fobbed off by senior management and seen as trouble-makers", the panel said.
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2026
"We're just getting fobbed off. The evidence is all there," she said.
From BBC ● Apr. 10, 2025
And now, after all this, to be fobbed off with a bow by "Gentleman George," the "fat friend" of poor Brummell, was indeed a little too bad.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 18, No. 106, August, 1866 by Various
"I feel that they're fobbing me off really. I've reported this crime. It is the police's job to investigate it," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2025
They’re asking that HHS deal directly with their case instead of fobbing it off to the NIH, which would bring it under the purview of HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 24, 2023
A major challenge will be keeping researchers from simply treating the requirement as another box to tick or fobbing the work off on minority scientists, Hodari says.
From Science Magazine ● Oct. 4, 2022
After unsuccessfully fobbing us off with endless series of Ross Kemp looking macho, Sky is now throwing serious money at getting viewers to watch something other than sport.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 11, 2011
And so saying, under sufferance of being small, the plenipo was permitted to depart unmolested; for all his bravadoes, fobbing his credentials and affronts.
From Mardi: and A Voyage Thither, Vol. II by Herman Melville
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.
