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:
Still they forgot things, like a $600 spare key fob for Frank’s truck.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 20, 2026
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 pocket watch, its chain and fob was found by divers at the bottom of the lake, in Wisconsin, in September 1992.
From BBC ● May 23, 2025
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
The woman pulled a key fob from her pocket, and the red lights of a minivan flashed.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
List price, lowest of the Hillman line: $1,445 f.o.b. port of entry.
From Time Magazine Archive
Price of the '49 Ford: $1,163 and up, f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
The first automobile to be mass-produced in the U.S., it sold for $650 f.o.b.
From Time Magazine Archive
For two pandas, f.o.b., he demanded two one-year scholarships, complete with tuition and living expenses, for deserving Szechwan students.
From Time Magazine Archive
Oil - exports: NA Oil - imports: NA Exports: $1.579 billion f.o.b.
From The 2005 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency
"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
"My mum asked me why and I said 'can't you see he's no good? He fobs people off by telling different stories'."
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2025
If you buy a used car, some experts also advise getting the keys reprogrammed, just in case the previous owner kept one of the fobs.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2024
It’s then that I remember the email that said we’d need our key fobs to access the pool if we wanted to swim before eight a.m. on weekdays.
From "Red Flags and Butterflies" by Sheryl Azzam
He said he felt "fobbed off" when he complained to the cruise director.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
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
The victims commissioner for England and Wales said she often hears of victims being "ignored or fobbed off" by police forces.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2024
She fobbed me off with a half-promise in the end; but I wasn't satisfied.
From Linda Lee, Incorporated A Novel by Louis Joseph Vance
"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
Instead of fobbing women off with wobbly perks, she says, employers need to reorganise work so that people – men and women – needn’t have to choose between a career and a family.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 7, 2016
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.
