cob

noun

ˈkäb 

1

[perhaps short for cobswan lead swan] : a male swan

2

a

dialectal, England : a rounded mass, lump, or heap

b

: a mixture of unburned clay and straw used especially for constructing walls of small houses in England

3

: a crudely struck old Spanish coin of irregular shape

—often used before another noun

a cob dollar

4

: corncob sense 1

5

: a stocky short-legged riding horse

Examples of cob in a Sentence

She used a knife to cut the corn from the cob.

We had corn on the cob.

Recent Examples on the Web

Add the corn cob rounds and cook for about 4 minutes, or until softened. —Christian Allaire, Vogue, 26 Nov. 2025

In my family, corn side dishes were mostly on the cob or baked into an eggy, buttery batter. —Kimberly Holland, Southern Living, 23 Nov. 2025

Khloé said, showing off the pumpkin decorating stations, trees decorated with cobwebs, witches' hats, cob-webs and bats, and the orange and black balloon arches. —Clare Fisher, PEOPLE, 20 Oct. 2025

Plain, boiled or on the grill, most respondents eat their sweet corn in one of two ways: either across the cob or around it. —Cathy Kozlowicz, jsonline.com, 19 Sep. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English cobbe leader of a group, head; probably akin to cub (young animal), Middle English kebbe old cow or sheep, Dutch dialect kabbe, kebbe piglet

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing cob

• corn on the cob
• Welsh cob

Rhymes for cob

• blob
• bob
• daub
• fob
• glob
• gob
• hob
• job
• knob
• lob
• mob
• rob

Kids Definition

cob

noun

ˈkäb 

1

: a male swan

2

: corncob

3

: a short-legged stocky horse