gob

See also: göb and gøb

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: gŏb, IPA^(key): /ɡɒb/
• (General American) enPR: gŏb, IPA^(key): /ɡɑb/
• Rhymes: -ɒb

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Audio (General Australian):

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Etymology 1

From Middle English gobbe (also Middle English gobet), from Old French gobet, gobe (“lump, mouthful”), from Transalpine Gaulish *gobbo- (“neb, muzzle”).

Noun

gob (countable and uncountable, plural gobs)

1. (countable) A lump of soft or sticky material.
   • 1952, The Glass Industry, Volume 33, Ashlee Publishing Company, page 309,

     These inventors have discovered that gobs may be fed at widely spaced times without allowing the glass to flow during the interval but instead flushes^[sic] out the chilled glass which accumulates during the dwell.

2. (uncountable, slang) Saliva or phlegm.

   Synonyms: saliva, spit, sputum

   He spat a big ball of gob on to the pavement.

3. (US, regional) A whoopee pie.

Derived terms

• dough gob
• glob
• gobble
• gobby
• gobful
• gob iron
• gobline
• gob off
• goboon
• gobshite
• gobsmacked
• gobsmacker
• gobsmacking
• gobstopper
• gob-string
• gobstruck
• gob up
• goo-gob
• rent-a-gob
• shut one's gob

Translations

lump of soft or sticky material

• Bulgarian: буца (bg) f (buca)
• Czech: chuchvalec m, hrudka (cs) f
• Dutch: kwak (nl), slijmerige prop,
• Finnish: möykky (fi), paakku (fi), klöntti (fi), klimppi (fi)
• Serbo-Croatian: gvalja (sh) f

slang: saliva or phlegm

• Bulgarian: плюнка f (pljunka)
• Dutch: fluim (nl), rochel (nl) (slang)
• Finnish: räkä (fi), sylki (fi)
• French: crachat (fr) m (slang)
• Italian: sputo (it) m, saliva (it) f
• Serbo-Croatian: hračak (sh) m (slang)

Verb

gob (third-person singular simple present gobs, present participle gobbing, simple past and past participle gobbed)

1. To gather into a lump.
   • 1997 March, William G. Tapply, How to Catch a Trout on a Sandwich, Field & Stream, page 60,

     I liked to gob up two or three worms on a snelled hook, pinch three or four split shot onto the leader, and plunk it into the dark water.

2. (slang, ambitransitive) To spit, especially to spit phlegm.

Translations

to spit

• Bulgarian: плюя (bg) (pljuja)
• Czech: flusat impf, plivat impf
• Finnish: sylkäistä (fi), räkäistä (fi), räkiä (fi)
• Serbo-Croatian: hraknuti (sh), ishraknuti

Etymology 2

Probably from Irish gob, Scottish Gaelic gob (“beak, mouth”).

Noun

gob (plural gobs)

2. (countable, UK, Commonwealth, Ireland, slang) The mouth. [from 16th c.]

   Synonyms: cakehole, mush, trap; see also Thesaurus:mouth

   He′s always stuffing his gob with fast food.

   Oi, you, shut your gob!

   She's got such a gob on her – she's always gossiping about someone or other.

   • 2005, “Tango”, in Public Warning, performed by Lady Sovereign:

     Now washing you will be like washing a goth / All that black lipstick around their gobs

Derived terms

• gob job
• rent-a-gob

Translations

slang: mouth

• Bulgarian: плювалник m (pljuvalnik)
• Czech: huba (cs) f (slang)
• Dutch: smoel (nl), muil (nl) (slang)
• Finnish: turpa (fi), kita (fi), leipäläpi (fi)
• French: gueule (fr) f (slang)
• German: Schnauze (de) f (slang)
• Hungarian: gamba (hu)
• Indonesian: bacot (id) (vulgar)
• Italian: bocca (it) f
• Javanese: bacot (jv), cocot (jv), congor (jv) (all vulgar)
• Romanian: fleancă (ro) f, plisc (ro) n, leoarbă (ro) f
• Serbo-Croatian: gubica (sh) f (slang), labrnja (sh) f (slang)
• Slovak: papuľa f, huba (sk) f (slang)

See also

• gobble
• gobbler

Etymology 3

Back-formation from gobbing, or a specified use of Etymology 1, above.

Noun

gob (plural gobs)

1. (uncountable, mining) Waste material in old mine workings, goaf.

   Coordinate terms: gangue, mullock, tailings

   • 1930, Engineering and Mining Journal, volume 130, page 330:

     This consisted in wheeling gob back to the most distant part of the stope and filling up the sets right up to the roof.

Translations

mining: waste

• Finnish: sivukivi (fi)

Verb

gob (third-person singular simple present gobs, present participle gobbing, simple past and past participle gobbed)

1. (mining, intransitive) To pack away waste material in order to support the walls of the mine.

Etymology 4

Shortened from gobby or gobshite.

Noun

gob (plural gobs)

1. (US, military, slang) A sailor. [from 20th c.]
   • 1918 October 22, Letter of Adlai Stevenson, quoted in John Bartlow Martin, Adlai Stevenson of Illinois: The Life of Adlai E. Stevenson (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1976), page 53:

     Well I have taken the oath of allegiance for 4 years service anywhere in the world and am now a real 'gob' in the U. S. Navy.

   • 1928, Hart Crane, letter, 27 April:

     If it weren't for the Fleet I should scarcely be able to endure it. Gobs are always amusing, as you know.

   • 1937, Stella Blum, Everyday Fashion of the Thirties as pictured in Sears Catalogs, published 1986, page 94:

     Full-cut, dashing "gob" slacks with back pocket.

   • 1944 November, Fitting the Gob to the Job, Popular Mechanics, page 18,

     For the first time in history, new warship crews are virtually “prefabricated” by modern methods of fitting the gob to the job.

   • 1948 June, Fred B. Barton, Mending Broken Gobs, The Rotarian, page 22,

     Taking a safe average of 2,000 rehabilitated young gobs a year, that′s a total of 100,000 years of salvaged manhood, a target worth shooting at.

Translations

military slang: sailor

• Bulgarian: моряк (bg) m (morjak)
• Dutch: matroos bij de Amerikaanse Marine,
• Finnish: silakka (fi)
• French: matelot (fr) m de la Marine Américaine
• Italian: marinaio (it) m

Etymology 5

Alternate forms

• gog

Noun

gob (plural gobs)

1. (nautical) This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.
   • 1996, John Mellor, Handling Troubles Afloat:

     To save having to enter the locks at a crawl — not seamanlike in the strong cross-winds we often experienced ― I rigged a quarter-rope as described for stopping her, in addition to a gob-rope that I could immediately haul on to convert the quarter rope into a conventional stern line to hold her alongside after we had stopped.

   • 2009, Jeffrey Sleisinger, Shiphandling With Tugs:

     The towing point can be a bullnose up forward, a tow bitt aft, a staple, a towing hook, or a gob line.

Anagrams

• BOG, bog

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish gop, from Proto-Celtic *gobbos (“mouth”) (compare French gober (“gulp down”) and gobelet (“goblet”) from Gaulish) from Proto-Indo-European *ǵebʰ- (“jaw, mouth”); compare Russian зоб (zob, “goitre”), jowl from Old English ċēafl; German Kiefer (“jaw”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ɡɔbˠ/, /ɡɞbˠ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ɡɔbˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ɡʌbˠ/

Noun

gob m (genitive singular goib, nominative plural goba)

1. beak, bill (of a bird etc.)
   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 127:

     tā gob fadə eŕ ə grøtəx.

     [Tá gob fada ar an gcrotach.]

     The curlew has a long beak.

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 127:

     tā gobī nə l̄axə bŭī.

     [Tá goba na lacha buí.]

     The ducks’ bills are yellow.

2. tip, point, projection
3. pointy nose
4. nib
5. (colloquial) mouth, gob
   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 127:

     dūn də ʒob!

     [Dún do ghob!]

     Shut your gob!

Declension

Declension of gob (first declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative gob goba vocative a ghoib a ghoba genitive goib gob dative gob goba forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an gob na goba genitive an ghoib na ngob dative leis an ngob don ghob leis na goba

Derived terms

• ar bharr do ghoib (“on the tip of one’s tongue”)
• frithghob
• gob siosúir
• gobach
• gobadán
• gobaí
• gobán
• gobchaol
• gobdhearg
• gobfhionn
• gobghearr
• gobmhór
• gobóg

Verb

gob (present analytic gobann, future analytic gobfaidh, verbal noun gobadh, past participle gobtha)

1. (ambitransitive) peck (ar (“at”)) (as a bird etc.)
2. (intransitive) project, stick out, up

Conjugation

conjugation of gob (first conjugation – A)

verbal noun	gobadh
past participle	gobtha
tense	singular			plural			relative	autonomous
	first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative
present	gobaim	gobann tú; gobair†	gobann sé, sí	gobaimid	gobann sibh	gobann siad; gobaid†	a ghobann; a ghobas / a ngobann*	gobtar
past	ghob mé; ghobas	ghob tú; ghobais	ghob sé, sí	ghobamar; ghob muid	ghob sibh; ghobabhair	ghob siad; ghobadar	a ghob / ar ghob*	gobadh
past habitual	ghobainn / ngobainn‡‡	ghobtá / ngobtᇇ	ghobadh sé, sí / ngobadh sé, s퇇	ghobaimis; ghobadh muid / ngobaimis‡‡; ngobadh muid‡‡	ghobadh sibh / ngobadh sibh‡‡	ghobaidís; ghobadh siad / ngobaidís‡‡; ngobadh siad‡‡	a ghobadh / a ngobadh*	ghobtaí / ngobta퇇
future	gobfaidh mé; gobfad	gobfaidh tú; gobfair†	gobfaidh sé, sí	gobfaimid; gobfaidh muid	gobfaidh sibh	gobfaidh siad; gobfaid†	a ghobfaidh; a ghobfas / a ngobfaidh*	gobfar
conditional	ghobfainn / ngobfainn‡‡	ghobfá / ngobfᇇ	ghobfadh sé, sí / ngobfadh sé, s퇇	ghobfaimis; ghobfadh muid / ngobfaimis‡‡; ngobfadh muid‡‡	ghobfadh sibh / ngobfadh sibh‡‡	ghobfaidís; ghobfadh siad / ngobfaidís‡‡; ngobfadh siad‡‡	a ghobfadh / a ngobfadh*	ghobfaí / ngobfa퇇
subjunctive
present	go ngoba mé; go ngobad†	go ngoba tú; go ngobair†	go ngoba sé, sí	go ngobaimid; go ngoba muid	go ngoba sibh	go ngoba siad; go ngobaid†	—	go ngobtar
past	dá ngobainn	dá ngobtá	dá ngobadh sé, sí	dá ngobaimis; dá ngobadh muid	dá ngobadh sibh	dá ngobaidís; dá ngobadh siad	—	dá ngobtaí
imperative
–	gobaim	gob	gobadh sé, sí	gobaimis	gobaigí; gobaidh†	gobaidís	—	gobtar

* indirect relative
† archaic or dialect form
‡‡ dependent form used with particles that trigger eclipsis

Mutation

Mutated forms of gob

radical	lenition	eclipsis
gob	ghob	ngob

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “gob”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “gob”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “gob”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2025

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish gop, from Proto-Celtic *gobbos (“mouth”), from Proto-Indo-European *ǵebʰ- (“jaw, mouth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kop/

Noun

gob m (genitive singular guib, plural guib or goban)

1. bill, beak, nib, tip

   duilleag na ghob ― a leaf in its bill

   gob circe ― a hen's bill

   gob pinn ― nib of a pen

   gob na stocainn ― a tip of the sock

2. point

   gob an rubha ― the point of the headland

   gob na snàthaide ― the point of the needle

3. mouth

   gob na cùiteige ― the mouth of the whiting

4. garrulity
5. babble

Derived terms

• glas-ghuib
• gobaire
• pìos àrd a' ghuib
• pìos ìosal a' ghuib

Mutation

Mutation of gob

radical	lenition
gob	ghob

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “gob”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• MacLennan, Malcolm (1925) A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Edinburgh: J. Grant, →OCLC

Slovene

Noun

gob

1. genitive dual/plural of goba