lob
1 Americanverb (used with object)
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Tennis. to hit (a ball) in a high arc to the back of the opponent's court.
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to fire (a missile, as a shell) in a high trajectory so that it drops onto a target.
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Cricket. to bowl (the ball) with a slow underhand motion.
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to throw (something) slowly in an arc.
verb (used without object)
noun
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Tennis. a ball hit in a high arc to the back of the opponent's court.
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Cricket. a ball bowled with a slow underhand motion.
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British Dialect. a slow, heavy, dull-witted person.
noun
noun
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a ball struck in a high arc
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cricket a ball bowled in a slow high arc
verb
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to hit or kick (a ball) in a high arc
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informal to throw, esp in a high arc
noun
Other Word Forms
- lobber noun
Etymology
Origin of lob
1325–75; in earlier sense, to behave like a lob ( Middle English lobbe, lob bumpkin, clumsy person, originally pollack; Old English: spider; basic sense, something pendulous); cognate with Middle Low German, Middle Dutch lobbe dangling part, stockfish, etc.
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.
Then Ayton ran the court and took a return lob pass from James for a dunk.
From Los Angeles Times
There were two Tyler Bilodeau misses at point-blank range — including a blown dunk — an Xavier Booker layup that was blocked and a Dent lob that was deflected and stolen.
From Los Angeles Times
I was a fresh-faced high school senior, living out the prime of my teenage youth in an increasingly progressive world where fundamentalist doomsday prophecies were lobbed around in jest.
From Salon
Two days later, they lobbed a missive at Warner: “WBD appears to have abandoned the semblance and reality of a fair transaction process,” Paramount’s lawyers wrote.
From Los Angeles Times
It was a contrast to the criticisms lobbed at agencies like the Bureau of Labor Statistics in the past year that contended the data produced wasn’t up to snuff.
From Barron's
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.
