hob

¹ American  

[hob] / hɒb /

noun

1. a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm.

2. a rounded peg or pin used as a target in quoits and similar games.

3. a game in which such a peg is used.

4. Machinery. a milling cutter for gear and sprocket teeth, splines, threads, etc., having helically arranged teeth and fed across the work as the work is rotated.

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verb (used with or without object)

hobbed, hobbing

1. Machinery. to cut with a hob.

hob ² American  

[hob] / hɒb /

noun

1. a hobgoblin or elf.

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idioms

1. raise hob, to cause a destructive commotion; behave disruptively.

   They raised such hob with their antagonistic questions that the meeting broke up.

2. play hob with, to do mischief or harm to.

   The child played hob with my radio, and now it won't work at all.

hob ¹ British  

/ hɒb /

noun

1. the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates or burners

2. a shelf beside an open fire, for keeping kettles, etc, hot

3. a steel pattern used in forming a mould or die in cold metal

4. a hard steel rotating cutting tool used in machines for cutting gears

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verb

1. (tr) to cut or form with a hob

hob ² British  

/ hɒb /

noun

1. a hobgoblin or elf

2. a male ferret

3. informal to cause mischief or disturbance

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Other Word Forms

• hobber
  noun
• hoblike
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of hob¹

First recorded in 1505–15; variant of obsolete hub “hob (in a fireplace)”; perhaps identical with hub

Origin of hob²

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, special use of Hob(be), for Robert or Robin

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hob hobbed hobbing

Don't forget fruit and vegetables - the latter can be cooked with a steamer on one hob, rather than using different ones.

From BBC ● Jan. 3, 2025

Indiana, 15, said: "At one point I was doing maths on a hob in catering. It's not ideal."

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2024

The cooker hood removes particles generated from the back rings of a hob more easily than from the front rings, where more pollutants can escape into the room.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2023

Food residue that is stuck on the hob will start to burn as soon as the hob is turned on.

From Salon ● Apr. 24, 2023

Then she tidied up the Nursery and put the kettle on the hob.

From "Mary Poppins" by P. L. Travers

For perhaps 5,500 years man has started off with molten metal, which he has then cast, forged, rolled, extruded, hammered, machined, hobbed, drilled, milled and ground.

From Time Magazine Archive

In England Davis hobbed so intimately with the nobs that the P.M.,

From Time Magazine Archive

At time-serving Arthur Wolfe's, for instance, Clare hobbed and nobbed with the disaffected; such, that is, as had not gone so far as to frighten the well-meaning attorney-general.

From My Lords of Strogue, Vol. II (of III) A Chronicle of Ireland, from the Convention to the Union by Wingfield, Lewis

After the dies are hobbed their front ends should be reamed with a taper reamer as in Fig.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua

For most ascents the usual alpine equipment—ice axes, rope, and hobbed boots or climbing shoes—is essential.

From Grand Teton [Wyoming] National Park by Interior, United States Dept. of the

However, a worry for Ulster was the sight of Williams hobbing off.

From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2013

In hobbing the dies it is necessary that they be all of equal length so that the hob may cut an equal depth in each, and may, therefore, work steadily and hob them true.

From Modern Machine-Shop Practice, Volumes I and II by Rose, Joshua

But she soon found a cure for his passion, By hobbing or nobbing at dinner, With Paris, a Trojan of fashion.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 10, No. 284, November 24, 1827 by Various

Striking a match, there was his apron shrouding his hobbing foot.

From London River by Tomlinson, H. M. (Henry Major)

They include office buildings, workshops for hobbing, heat-treating, grinding and polishing cog-wheels and the complete gear transmissions.

From Zeppelin The Story of a Great Achievement by Vissering, Harry

Related Words

• gnome
• goblin
• imp
• leprechaun