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
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have lobbedperfect
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has lobbedperfect 3rd person singular
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is lobbingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been lobbingperfect progressive
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has been lobbingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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lobbingparticiple
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are lobbingprogressive
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am lobbingprogressive 1st person singular
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lobssingular 3rd person
Past
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had lobbedperfect
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had been lobbingperfect progressive
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were lobbingprogressive plural
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was lobbingprogressive singular
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lobbedparticiple
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lobbedsimple
Future
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.
Explanation
When you lob something, you throw it up very high. If you lob a baseball from the outfield to the pitcher, you hurl it in an arc that ends right where the pitcher can catch it. If you propel an object in an arc, you lob it. For example, a soldier might lob a missile at the enemy. Tennis players can lob a ball by hitting it up and over the net. Today the noun lob means a throw (or hit) that follows an arc, but in the 14th century a lob was a "lazy lout," and in the 16th century it was "a lumpish thing."
Vocabulary lists containing lob
The Smashing Lexicon of Tennis
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The Wild Robot
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Heat
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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.
Can they follow a similar script as the LOB?
From Seattle Times • Nov. 7, 2022
He is hopeful that maybe he can be a part of the LOB version 2.0, but he knows that there is still more work to be done before he gets to that point.
From Seattle Times • Oct. 16, 2022
The Big Peach turned into LOB City for the Dodgers, who were one for eight with runners in scoring position.
From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 17, 2021
Comparisons to the LOB are inevitable thoough also far too premature at this point.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 12, 2020
The name of LOB appears under the form Lo pou in the Yuan-shi, s.a.
From The Travels of Marco Polo — Volume 2 by Yule, Henry
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.
