bob

Bob is a group of short, mostly colloquial words of obscure origin that have become entangled in form and sense;^[1][2] the dictionaries separate at least the verb “to move up and down”, the noun “a cluster, a short haircut”, and the slang “shilling”.^[3][4][5]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bɒb/, US /bɑːb/^[6]

bob¹ move up and down

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bobben,^[5][1] perhaps the same word as Middle English bobben “to strike, beat”, before 1325,^[5][1] of a short, jerking or rebounding movement.^[5][7] Etymonline connects it with bobben “to make a fool of, cheat”, perhaps from Old French bober “to mock”,^[1] and the American Heritage and Merriam-Webster think it probably ultimately imitative.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To move quickly up and down”: about 1390, in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales,^[5] the late 14th century in Etymonline.^[1]

Semantic evolution

The noun, a sudden jerk up and down, is from about 1550, the 1540s in Etymonline,^[5][1] and a curtsy from the early 19th century.^[4] Bobbing for apples or cherries, snatching with the mouth something hanging or floating, is recorded by 1799,^[1] and to bob and weave, in boxing, by 1928.^[1] In bell-ringing a bob is a kind of change in long peals, from the late 17th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1390 – to move up and down.^[5]
• c. 1550 – noun, a jerk.^[5][1]
• 1799 – bobbing for apples.^[1]
• 1928 – bob and weave.^[1]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To move up and down quickly or repeatedly: a cork bobbing on the water.
2. To try to seize floating or hanging objects with the teeth.
3. To curtsy or bow briefly.
4. To tap or strike lightly.

Noun

1. A quick, jerky movement of the head or body.
2. A light tap or blow.

bob² cluster, short hair

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English bobbe (“bunch, cluster of leaves or flowers”),^[5][1] a northern word of uncertain origin,^[5][1][7] perhaps Celtic, compare Irish baban “tassel, cluster” and Scottish Gaelic babag.^[1][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A bunch or cluster, as of leaves or flowers: probably about 1390, in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,^[5] about 1340 in the OED, chiefly northern,^[10] the mid-14th century in Etymonline.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Many of its later uses have in common the notion of a round, hanging mass:^[1] the weight on a fishing line (1610s), a pendulum (1752) or a plumb line (1832).^[1][10] Others imply shortness:^[2] a horse's docked tail (1570s), a knot or bunch of hair (1680s, 1688),^[1][5] and the bobtail, bobcat (1888) and bobsled (1839).^[2][5] The verb “to cut short” is American, from 1822,^[5] and “to cut a woman's hair short all round” from 1918,^[5] when the fashion was seen as a sign of radicalism;^[1] the noun for the haircut is from 1920 in Etymonline,^[1] 1926 in Galsworthy's The Silver Spoon according to Barnhart.^[5] The bobby pin is from 1936.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1340 – a cluster.^[10]
• 1570s – a docked tail.^[1]
• 1610s – a weight on a line.^[1]
• 1688 – a knot of hair.^[5]
• 1822 – verb, to cut short.^[5]
• 1918 – to cut hair short.^[5]
• 1920 – a bobbed haircut.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A short haircut for a woman or child, with the hair cut evenly all round.
2. A small knob-like weight hanging from a line, such as a plumb bob.
3. A float for a fishing line.
4. A small lock or curl of hair.
5. A horse's docked tail.
6. A bobsled, or one of its runners.

Verb

1. To cut short, as hair or a tail.
2. To fish with a bob.

Word family

• bobbed
• bobtail
• bobcat
• bobsled
• bobby pin

bob³ shilling

Etymology

Its origin is unknown;^[1][4][2] it does not seem to be related to the other bobs.^[2] Merriam-Webster suggests the nickname Bob, for Robert.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

A shilling, as British slang: 1789.^[1][3]

Semantic evolution

After decimalization it was used for five new pence.^[4] Bob-a-job was the former slogan of the Scout Association's fund-raising week.^[4]

Timeline

• 1789 – a shilling.^[1][3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. (British slang) A shilling.

Usage notes

Bob's your uncle, said when something is easily done, uses the pet form of Robert; the suggestion that it refers to Lord Salisbury appointing his nephew Arthur Balfour in 1887 is doubtful, since the first records are from the 1930s.^[2] A further obsolete bob, “to make a fool of”, came from Old French bober.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
2. ^ a b c d e f Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ a b c Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press