hob
1 Americannoun
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a projection or shelf at the back or side of a fireplace, used for keeping food warm.
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a rounded peg or pin used as a target in quoits and similar games.
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a game in which such a peg is used.
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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.
verb (used with or without object)
noun
idioms
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raise hob, to cause a destructive commotion; behave disruptively.
They raised such hob with their antagonistic questions that the meeting broke up.
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play hob with, to do mischief or harm to.
The child played hob with my radio, and now it won't work at all.
noun
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the flat top part of a cooking stove, or a separate flat surface, containing hotplates or burners
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a shelf beside an open fire, for keeping kettles, etc, hot
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a steel pattern used in forming a mould or die in cold metal
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a hard steel rotating cutting tool used in machines for cutting gears
verb
noun
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a hobgoblin or elf
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a male ferret
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informal to cause mischief or disturbance
Other Word Forms
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
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:
For Aimee Ludgate, 29, from Bradford, using an oven or hob in this heat is a no-go.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
Many of us can relate to oil and gas: Filling up the car, putting a pan on the hob.
From BBC ● Feb. 6, 2025
Even food residue that collects in the oven or on the hob generates fine particles when burned.
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
It is a hob who comes forward this time, in a dapper little suit, carefully sewn.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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
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
During the dinner the chairman did his best to make himself pleasant, and hobbed and nobbed unreservedly with his immediate neighbours....
From The History of "Punch" by Spielmann, M. H. (Marion Harry)
In the scullery, at the end further from the main building, was a small hobbed grate.
From Ambrotox and Limping Dick by Fleming, Oliver
However, a worry for Ulster was the sight of Williams hobbing off.
From BBC ● Jan. 11, 2013
Striking a match, there was his apron shrouding his hobbing foot.
From London River by Tomlinson, H. M. (Henry Major)
And it's all very well for Larry Twentyman to be hobbing and nobbing with the likes of them Botseys.
From The American Senator by Trollope, Anthony
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
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
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.
