hob

• (General American) enPR: hŏb, IPA^(key): /hɑb/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: hŏb, IPA^(key): /hɒb/

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• Rhymes: -ɒb

hob (plural hobs)

1. A kind of cutting tool, used to cut the teeth of a gear.
2. (historical) The flat projection or iron shelf at the side of a fire grate, where things are put to be kept warm.

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   • 1898, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book the Second, Chapter V (The Jackal):

     They went into a dingy room lined with books and littered with papers, where there was a blazing fire. A kettle steamed upon the hob, and in the midst of the wreck of papers a table shone, with plenty of wine upon it, and brandy, and rum, and sugar, and lemons.

3. (Britain, Australia, New Zealand) The top cooking surface on a cooker; a cooktop. It typically comprises several cooking elements (often four), also known as 'rings'.
   • 1913, Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 2

     And the first sound in the house was the bang, bang of the poker against the raker, as Morel smashed the remainder of the coal to make the kettle, which was filled and left on the hob, finally boil.

4. A rounded peg used as a target in several games, especially in quoits.
5. A male ferret.
6. The hub of a wheel.

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• (cooking surface): cooktop, stovetop, range (US)

hob (third-person singular simple present hobs, present participle hobbing, simple past and past participle hobbed)

1. (transitive) To create (a gear) by cutting with a hob.
2. (intransitive) To engage in the process of cutting gears with a hob.

From Middle English Hob (a diminutive of Robin, an Old French [Term?] diminutive of Robert), through its connection with Robin Goodfellow and (later) the devil. Compare hobgoblin; see robin.

hob (plural hobs)

1. (obsolete) A fairy; a sprite; an elf; a bogey.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     From elves, hobs, and fairies, […] Defend us, good Heaven!

2. (obsolete) A countryman; a rustic or yokel.

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• (supernatural creature): See goblin (hostile)

• play hob with, raise hob

• hob in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• BHO, BOH, HBO, boh

hob

1. (computer science) heap

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hob

1. First-person singular preterite of heben.
2. Third-person singular preterite of heben.

hob (with accusative)

1. Obsolete spelling of wob