bob
Noun pluralbobs, bob
Pluralbobs, bob
- 1To move, or make something such as the head move, quickly and gently up and down, the way a floating object moves on water.
Fishing boats bob at their moorings as the tide comes in.
A seal's head bobbed up beside the kayak and then vanished.
UsageOften bob up and down, or bob up for something that suddenly surfaces or appears.
- 2A short haircut in which the hair is cut straight and evenly all around, usually at about jaw length.
She walked into the salon with waist-length hair and walked out with a sleek bob.
Her chin-length bob needs a trim every six weeks to keep its shape.
- 3
- 4To cut hair into a bob, a short style of even length all around the head.
She bobbed her hair the summer before college and never grew it out again.
I'm asking the stylist to bob my hair just below the ears.
UsageCommon as an adjective in bobbed hair, or passive: her hair was bobbed.
- 5Followed by for: to try, as a party game, to seize apples that float in water or dangle from strings, using the teeth alone.
Nobody else wanted to bob for apples after the first guest came up soaked and shivering.
The children bobbed for apples dangling on strings tied to the porch rail.
- 6A weight or small round object that hangs from a cord, rod or wire so that it can swing, such as the weight at the end of a pendulum or plumb line.
The clockmaker raised the bob slightly to make the pendulum swing faster.
The carpenter let the plumb line hang until its brass bob settled, then marked the post.
- 7A racing sled ridden down a curving track of ice, usually by a team of two or four; a bobsled.
The four-man bob crossed the line a tenth of a second ahead of its rivals.
Athletes sprint beside the bob for the first fifty meters before jumping in.
- 8
- 9A horse's tail that has been cut short by docking.
Flies plagued the mare all summer, and her stubby bob could do little to swat them.
The carriage horses had their bobs neatly trimmed for the parade.
- 10To perform oral sex on a partner; used with on.
He asked her to bob on him, and she laughed and told him to wait.
She bobbed on her boyfriend in the back seat after the party.
- 11To hit someone or something with a quick, light blow.
Whenever he dozed off in the meeting, a colleague bobbed him on the shoulder.
The cat likes to bob the puppy on the nose with one paw.
Note
The striking that Middle English bobben could mean alongside the bobbing verb survives here. Thomas Elyot in 1531 has Nero's servants bob on the face anyone who dozes off, and Shakespeare, around 1602, turns the blow into wit: a character boasts that he has bobbed a man's brain more than the man has beaten his bones.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Thomas Elyot's example dates to 1531. en.wikipedia.org
- Elyot describes Nero's servants striking the faces of people who fall asleep. luminarium.org
- The Shakespeare example can be dated approximately 1602. en.wikipedia.org
- A Shakespeare character boasts of bobbing another man's brain more than that man has beaten his bones. folger.edu
- 12
- 13To curtsy, bending the knees briefly as a gesture of respect.
The young ballet students bob to their teacher at the end of every class.
She bobbed a quick curtsy to the duchess and stepped aside.
Similarcurtsy
- 14A curtsy; a brief bending of the knees made as a sign of respect.
Holding out the sides of her dress, the flower girl gave the bride a little bob.
After her solo, the young dancer made a neat bob to the judges.
Similarcurtsy
- 15An amount of money, without saying exactly how much.
I could lend you a few bob until you get paid on Friday.
That old guitar of his must be worth a few bob by now.
UsageUsually in the phrase a few bob: lend, spend or save a few bob.
Note
The plural is usually plain bob, but an s turns up now and then: Len Deighton's Funeral in Berlin (1964) has a few bobs' worth of fireworks going up.
- 16A shilling, as a coin or a sum of money.
His gran used to give him a bob for running to the shop for her.
One of the bottlenosed fraternity it was went by the name of James Wought alias Saphiro alias Spark and Spiro, put an ad in the papers saying he'd give a passage to Canada for twenty bob.
1922, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”UsageAfter a number, the plural stays bob: twenty bob, a hundred bob.
Similarshilling
Note
In Kenya it is current slang; in Britain and Australia it belongs with the old coin and now sounds dated. After a number the plural stays bob: James Joyce's Ulysses (1922) has a passage to Canada for twenty bob, and George Orwell in 1933 prices a full outfit, coat to cap, at seven bob.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- James Joyce wrote Ulysses, whose first book edition appeared in 1922. en.wikisource.org
- Ulysses includes an advertised passage to Canada for twenty bob. en.wikisource.org
- George Orwell's Down and Out in Paris and London was first published in 1933. orwellfoundation.com
- Orwell's book includes a seven-bob asking price for an outfit comprising a coat, trousers, boots, cap and scarf. en.wiktionary.org
- The Joyce and Orwell examples both use bob without an s after a number. en.wiktionary.org
- 17In decimal money, a 10-cent coin, the coin that took the place of the shilling and had the same value.
All she found in her purse was a bob and two five-cent pieces.
He swapped his bob and two twenty-cent coins for a milkshake at the milk bar.
Note
Australians once gave the ten-cent coin the same slang name as the shilling. The word is dated now, so it suits memories and period dialogue better than everyday shopping; ten cents is the plain modern way to say it.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- Australians used bob as a slang name for both the shilling and the ten-cent coin. en.wiktionary.org
- 18A short wig of the kind called a bob wig, or hair forming a small knot or a short curl.
A plain brown bob he wore.
1737, William Shenstone, The Extent of CookeryNote
A modern reader can easily misread this obsolete use. When William Shenstone writes in 1737, "A plain brown bob he wore," he means a bob wig, a short wig, not the modern haircut; the poem goes on to bags and full bottoms, other wigs of the day. Outside writing of that period, the full phrase bob wig is the safer way to name the wig.
- 19A short line at the end of a stanza in a poem.
The poet closes every stanza with a terse bob that lands like a punchline.
Students scanning the poem found that each bob had only two syllables.
- 20A buoyant float attached to a fishing line; a bobber.
- 21To ride in a bobsled.
- 22A short runner on a sled, one of the strips it slides on.
- 23Clipping of shishkabob.
- 24In change ringing, a particular way of ringing the changes on a set of bells.
- 25Any of various butterflies of the skipper family, Hesperiidae.
- 26A small leather wheel with rounded edges, used for polishing spoons and similar objects.
- 27In a steam engine, the working beam, which rocks back and forth as the engine runs.
- 28A graphical object like a hardware sprite, drawn by blitting so that large numbers of them can be moved around the screen.
- 29To catch eels using a bunch of worms threaded on a string.
- 30A chorus or line that comes back again and again in a song.
Ay, Ay, and Then to Bed, ſays the Bride. This Girl did but ſpeak the Widows Mind; for let Fleſh and Blood pretend what it will, to Bed, to Bed, will be the Bob of the Song.
1692, Roger L’Estrange, “[The Fables of Abstemius, &c.] Fab[le] CCLXXXIII. A Widow had a mind to Marry.” - 31A cutting remark or mocking joke aimed at someone.
Hee, that a Foole doth very wiſely hit, Doth very fooliſhly, although he ſmart, Seeme ſenſeleſſe of the bob.
c. 1598, William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”
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Practice
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Origins
Middle English bobben ("to strike; to move up and down or to and fro") is the source, though where that word came from is not known. Similar words are Dutch dobberen ("bobbing"), Swedish bobba ("to bob"), Icelandic boppa ("to wave up and down") and Scots bob ("to dance with a bobbing motion").
The word may be Celtic, since Irish has baban ("tassel, cluster") and Gaelic has babag; English got it as Middle English bobbe, which meant "a cluster of fruit; a twig with its leaves, a spray."