mob

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mŏb, IPA^(key): /mɒb/
• (General American) enPR: mŏb, IPA^(key): /mɑb/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒb

From Middle English mob, short for mobile, from Latin mōbile (vulgus) (“fickle (crowd)”). The video-gaming sense originates from English mobile, used by Richard Bartle for objects capable of movement in an early MUD.

mob (plural mobs)

1. A large or disorderly group of people; especially one bent on riotous or destructive action.
   • (Can we date this quote?) James Madison, Jr.

     Had every Athenian citizen been a Socrates, every Athenian assembly would still have been a mob.

2. A commonly used collective noun for animals such as horses or cattle.
3. The Mafia, or a similar group that engages in organized crime (preceded by the).
   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart; Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, OCLC 20230794, page 01:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

   • 1986, Paul Chadwick, Concrete: Under the Desert Stars, Dark Horse Books

     What if it is a mob killing? They can’t hurt me, but …

4. (video games) A non-player character, especially one that exists to be fought or killed to further the progression of the story or game.
   • 2002, "Wolfie", Re: Whoa - massive changes due in next patch (on newsgroup alt.games.everquest)

     You can't win with small, balanced groups. You have to zerg the mob with a high number of players.

5. (archaic) The lower classes of a community; the rabble.
   • (Can we date this quote?) Joseph Addison

     A cluster of mob were making themselves merry with their betters.

6. (Australian Aboriginal) A cohesive group of people.
   • 2011 March 10, Allan Clarke, W.A. through Noongar eyes

     There’s nothing like local knowledge and after thousands of years living here the Noongar mob understand this land better than anyone, so it makes sense for them to tap into the lucrative tourism industry.

7. A flock of emus.

• (mafia): mafia, Mafia

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To crowd around (someone), sometimes with hostility.

   The fans mobbed a well-dressed couple who resembled their idols.

   • 2017 June 26, Alexis Petridis, “Glastonbury 2017 verdict: Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Lorde, Stormzy and more”, in the Guardian‎:

     Politicians have been turning up to Glastonbury for years, but this year the leader of the opposition was among the most hotly anticipated attractions: when he arrived on site, his Land Rover was mobbed by fans.

2. (transitive) To crowd into or around a place.

   The shoppers mobbed the store on the first day of the sale.

Alteration of mab.

mob (plural mobs)

1. (obsolete) A promiscuous woman; a harlot or wench; a prostitute. [17th-18th c.]
2. A mob cap.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Goldsmith to this entry?)

• mob cap

mob (third-person singular simple present mobs, present participle mobbing, simple past and past participle mobbed)

1. (transitive) To wrap up in, or cover with, a cowl.

Abbreviation of mobile phone.

mob (plural mobs)

1. mobile phone

• This is most often used in signwriting to match with the other three-letter abbreviations tel (“telephone”) and fax (“facsimile”).

• Mob in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

• BMO, BOM, BoM, OMB

mob

1. imperative of mobbe

Abbreviated form of mobylette.

• IPA^(key): /mɔb/

mob f (plural mobs)

1. (colloquial) scooter, moped

• “mob” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

• IPA^(key): /mob/

mob (plural mobs)

1. suggestion

• mobön

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *ʔmun (“illness, pain”). Cognate with Iu Mien mun.

mob

1. to be ill/sick; to hurt; to be unwell

• Ernest E. Heimbach, White Hmong - English Dictionary (1979, SEAP Publications)