COBB. There is perhaps no monosyllable in any language that has so many distinct meanings as cob. It may he thought curious to enumerate them. As a VERB, it signifies, 1, to strike; 2, to pull the ear or hair ; 3, to throw ; and 4, to outdo. As a XOUN, it stands for — 5, a seedbasket ; 6, the material of mud walls ; 7, a hay-stack of small dimensions; 8, clover seed; 9, an Hiberno-Spanish coin; 10, a lump or piece; 11, a sea-gull; 12, the fish called the miller's thumb ; 13, a harbour, as the Cobb of Lpue-Regis ; 14, a young herring ; 15, a leader or chief; 16, a wealthy or mfluential person ; 17, a small horse ; 18, a spider (whence cob-web); 19, the bird called a shoveller. It has also many compounds, as — cob-castle, a prison ; cobcoals, large pit-coals; cob-irons, andii-ous; cob-joe, a nut at the end of a string ; cobkey, a bastinado used among sailors ; cobloaf, a loaf of peculiar form ; cob-nut, a Avell known dessert tr-uit — also a game played with it; cob-poke, a bag carried by gleaners ; cob-stones, large stoues ; cobswan, a very large swan ; cob-wall, a wall composed of clay and straw. The heralds in devising arms for the various families of Cobbe and Cobb, have as usual alluded to some of these objects; thus Cobb of Bedfordshire has fish (be they herrings or miller's thumbs), and shovellers in his coat; Cobb of Peterbridge, co. Norfolk, displays two swans (cob-swans) and a fish ; another Cobb of Norfolk carries two teals (? shovellers) and one fish ; while Cobb of Oxfordshire gives two shovellers and a (cob-) fisli. This however by the way. As to the sur

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.