Cob

UK: /ˈkɒb/ US: /kɑb/ ,(kob)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

cob /kɑb/   n. [countable]

1. corncob (def. 1):
   We ate corn on the cob at the summer picnic.
2. Birds a male swan.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

cob  (kob), n. 

1. a corncob.
2. Birds a male swan.
3. a short-legged, thick-set horse, often having a high gait and frequently used for driving.
4. British Terms a mixture of clay and straw, used as a building material.
5. British Terms a rounded mass or lump.
6. Currency a crude silver or gold Spanish-American coin of the 16th to 18th centuries, characteristically irregular in shape and bearing only a partial impression of the dies from which it was struck.

• 1375–1425; late Middle English cobbe male swan, leader of a gang; these and various subsequent senses are obscurely related and probably in part of distinct origin, originally

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

cob•nut  (kob′nut′), n. 

1. Plant Biology the nut of certain cultivated varieties of hazel, Corylus avellana grandis.
2. Plant Biology a tree bearing such nuts.

• late Middle English cobylle nutt. See cobble¹, nut 1400–50

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cob / kɒb/ noun

1. a male swan
2. a thickset short-legged type of riding and draught horse
3. short for corncob, corncob pipe, cobnut
4. 
   another name for hazel1
5. a small rounded lump or heap of coal, ore, etc
6. a building material consisting of a mixture of clay and chopped straw
7. Also called: cob loaf a round loaf of bread

Etymology: 15th Century: of uncertain origin; probably related to Icelandic kobbi seal; see cub

cob, cobb / kɒb/ noun

1. an archaic or dialect name for the greater black-backed gull (Larus marinus)
   See also gull1

Etymology: 16th Century: of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kob, kobbe

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

cobnut / ˈkɒbˌnʌt/, cob noun

1. other names for a hazelnut

Etymology: 16th Century: from earlier cobylle nut; see cobble¹, nut