mob

[ mob ]

/ mɒb /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR mob

noun

a disorderly or riotous crowd of people.

a crowd bent on or engaged in lawless violence.

any group or collection of persons or things.

the common people; the masses; populace or multitude.

a criminal gang, especially one involved in drug trafficking, extortion, etc.

the Mob, Mafia (def. 1).

Sociology. a group of persons stimulating one another to excitement and losing ordinary rational control over their activity.

a flock, herd, or drove of animals: a mob of sheep.

adjective

of, relating to, or characteristic of a lawless, irrational, disorderly, or riotous crowd: mob rule; mob instincts.

directed at or reflecting the lowest intellectual level of the common people: mob appeal; the mob mentality.

verb (used with object), mobbed, mob·bing.

to crowd around noisily, as from curiosity or hostility: Spectators mobbed the courtroom.

to attack in a riotous mob: The crowd mobbed the consulate.

Fox Hunting. to chop (a fox).

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Origin of mob

First recorded in 1680–90; short for Latin mōbile vulgus “the movable (i.e., changeable, inconstant) common people”

OTHER WORDS FROM mob

mobber, mobbist, nounmobbish, adjectivemob·bish·ly, adverbmob·bish·ness, noun

mobbism, nounun·mobbed, adjective

Definition for mob (2 of 3)

mob²

[ mob mohb ]

/ mɒb moʊb /

noun Digital Technology.

(in a video game) a hostile nonplayer character that the player may target and fight.

Origin of mob

First recorded in 1980–85; coined by British video game developer Richard Bartle; shortening of mobile (in the sense “a moving sculpture hung from the ceiling”)

Definition for mob (3 of 3)

MOB

mother of the bride.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Example sentences from the Web for mob

By the time she reached the parking lot, “people were just mobbing out of the mall.”
Gunman Kills Two People and Himself in Shooting at Oregon Mall|Winston Ross|December 12, 2012|DAILY BEAST
But the vulgar boys of bird society are fond of mobbing it when it appears abroad by day, and it dislikes publicity.
Concerning Animals and Other Matters|E.H. Aitken, (AKA Edward Hamilton)
Whenever you twins get together I think I have to watch you just as I used to when you were mobbing the parsonage.
Sunny Slopes|Ethel Hueston
He whipped the brute so thoroughly that it put an end to the mobbing in Honolulu.
Memoirs of John R. Young|John Young

The young orator's attitude towards slavery was determined by the mobbing of Garrison.
The Battle of Principles|Newell Dwight Hillis
The little birds, impelled by rage or fear, or a silly combination of both, assemble for the purpose of mobbing the common enemy.
British Birds in their Haunts|Rev. C. A. Johns

British Dictionary definitions for mob (1 of 2)

mob

/ (mɒb) /

noun

a riotous or disorderly crowd of people; rabble
(as modifier)mob law; mob violence

often derogatory a group or class of people, animals, or things

Australian and NZ a flock (of sheep) or a herd (of cattle, esp when droving)

often derogatory the masses

slang a gang of criminals

verb mobs, mobbing or mobbed (tr)

to attack in a group resembling a mob

to surround, esp in order to acclaimthey mobbed the film star

to crowd into (a building, plaza, etc)

(of a group of animals of a prey species) to harass (a predator)

Derived forms of mob

mobber, nounmobbish, adjective

Word Origin for mob

C17: shortened from Latin mōbile vulgus the fickle populace; see mobile

British Dictionary definitions for mob (2 of 2)

MOB

abbreviation for

mobile phone

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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