mob

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mɒb/, /mɑb/^[1]

Etymology

It is a slang shortening of mobile, the common people, the rabble (1676, the 1670s),^[2][3][4] probably with a conscious play on nobility,^[3] from Latin mōbile vulgus, the fickle common people,^[2][3][4] from mōbile, the neuter of mōbilis, fickle, movable (see mobile).^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A disorderly crowd, the rabble: 1688.^[2][5][3][6]

Semantic evolution

Also from the 1680s it was used of any promiscuous gathering of people,^[3][5] and the common mass of people from 1691.^[5] A flock or herd of animals is Australian from 1836,^[5] and in Australia and New Zealand mob is used without disparagement for a crowd.^[3] A gang of thieves or pickpockets is from 1839,^[3][4] and in American English organized crime in general from 1927.^[3] The verb, to crowd round and attack or beset, is from 1709.^[3][2] Mobster is from 1917.^[2]

Timeline

• 1676 – mobile, the rabble.^[2]
• 1688 – a disorderly crowd.^[5]
• 1709 – to mob (verb).^[3]
• 1836 – a flock (Australia).^[5]
• 1839 – a gang of thieves.^[3]
• 1917 – mobster.^[2]
• 1927 – organized crime.^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A large, disorderly or violent crowd.
2. The mass of common people; the populace.
3. (informal) A gang of criminals, or organized crime: the Mob.
4. (Australia, New Zealand) A flock or herd of animals.

Verb

1. To crowd round and jostle, in anger or admiration.
2. To attack in large numbers.

Word family

• mobbish
• mobbishly
• mobber
• mobbishness
• mobbism
• moble
• mobocracy
• mobster

Related words

• mobile
• rabble
• mobility

Usage notes

A different mob, a loose woman and later a woman's indoor cap (the mob-cap), is a variant of mab, short for Mabel.^[4][7] In Shetland a mob of whales was a school.^[5][8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)