fob
noun
a small pocket just below the waistline in pants, designed for a watch, keys, change, etc.
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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
"We get tons of people inquiring about stories, and normally we kind of fob them off a bit," he said.
From BBC ● Jun. 1, 2026
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
If you want to stop the key fob signal altogether, you can turn off the feature, Sutter said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025
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
The industry was feeling no pain: with cementmakers now selling f.o.b. at their mills, the savings on freight absorption meant increased earnings.
From Time Magazine Archive
List price, lowest of the Hillman line: $1,445 f.o.b. port of entry.
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
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
Oil - exports: NA Oil - imports: NA Exports: $541 million 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
Experts suggest keeping key fobs near the center of the home so the signal is harder to pick up.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 26, 2025
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
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 Michelle felt "fobbed off", the hearing was told.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 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
"Too much of my job really is taken up advising victims who feel fobbed off by the police when they report coercive control," she said.
From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2025
"I feel totally fobbed off by Bellway," he says.
From BBC ● Jan. 13, 2025
This bill merely fobbed them off with a miserable makeshift, and shut the door against ownership.
From The Turnstile by A. E. W. (Alfred Edward Woodley) Mason
"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
It is no use closing our eyes and fobbing ourselves off with words.
From Jean-Christophe Journey's End by Gilbert Cannan
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