# hub

Pronunciation: say "HUB" /hʌb/

## Noun

1. A point where many routes meet and traffic is distributed or diverted along them.
   - Simple: A place where many routes meet and travelers or goods are sent on in different directions.
   - _The railroad turned the sleepy town into a freight hub almost overnight._
   - _Passengers flying to smaller cities usually change planes at one of the airline's hubs._
2. A central facility that provides a range of related services, for example medical or educational ones.
   - Simple: A main center where you can get many services of one kind.
   - _A new medical hub on Main Street offers X-rays, lab tests and urgent care._
   - _The university's research hub brings its labs, data services and grant office under one roof._
3. The central, usually cylindrical part of a wheel.
   - Simple: The round middle part of a wheel.
   - _The mechanic greased the hub before putting the wheel back on._
   - _Turn the hub of the spool slowly to wind the tape back in._
4. A device used in computer networks to connect several Ethernet ports together.
   - Simple: A device that links several computer network cables together.
   - _The old office network ran through a single eight-port hub under the reception desk._
   - _When the network slowed to a crawl, the technician replaced the aging hubs with switches._
5. An area in a video game from which the player reaches the individual levels.
   - Simple: A place in a video game where you choose which level to play next.
   - _The game's hub is a quiet village whose doors open onto each of the twelve levels._
   - _Unlocking a new portal in the hub lets players jump straight into the lava stages._
6. A rough bump or other projecting obstruction, such as one in a road. *(US)*
   - Simple: A rough bump or something sticking up that gets in the way.
   - _The plow blade caught on a hub of rock buried in the field._
   - _Ice had frozen into hard hubs along the edge of the path._
7. A stake with a nail driven into it, used in surveying to mark a temporary point.
   - Simple: A pointed stick with a nail in it, put in the ground to mark a spot for a short time.
   - _The survey crew drove a hub at each corner of the property._
   - _Before grading began, the engineer checked her measurements against the nails in the hubs._
8. The target or mark at which players throw quoits and similar objects.
   - Simple: The mark you try to hit when throwing rings in a game like quoits.
   - _His last quoit struck the hub and spun to a stop beside it._
   - _They set up the hub at one end of the yard and marked the throwing line at the other._
9. A hardened, engraved steel punch used to press a design into a die, as in making coins.
   - Simple: A hard steel tool carved with a design, used to press that design into coin stamps.
   - _Each working die is pressed from the master hub, so every coin carries the same portrait._
   - _A cracked hub forced the mint to halt production of the new quarter._
10. A block placed against a wheel to keep it from rolling.
   - Simple: A block put against a wheel so that it cannot roll.
   - _The driver kicked a hub under the wagon's rear wheel before unhitching the horses._
   - _On the steep street, the movers wedged a hub against each tire of the van._
11. A male weasel.
   - Simple: A weasel that is male.
   - _In spring the hub went searching along the hedgerow for a mate._
   - _The gamekeeper found a hub and two females in the same trap._

## Other meanings

- (proper noun) Alternative letter-case form of Hub.
- (noun) A screw hob.

## Origin

From earlier hubbe, which has the same immediate origin as hob; it was originally a dialect word, and its ultimate origin is unknown. Compare German Hubbel ("bump on a surface"), from Proto-West Germanic *hubil ("bump, hill"), and English hive; it is perhaps ultimately from the same root as hip or hop.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/hub (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).