fob
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From German Low German Fobke (“pocket”) or German [Term?] (East Prussian dialect) Fuppe (“pocket”).
Noun edit
fob (plural fobs)
- A little pocket near the waistline of a pair of trousers or in a waistcoat or vest to hold money or valuables, especially a pocket watch.
- 1711, Jonathan Swift, Windsor Prophecy:
- With a saint at his chin and a seal at his fob.
- 1792, Thomas Holcroft, Anna St. Ives, volume VII, Fragment:
- As soon as they had confined my arms they left me, and remembering the bank-notes which I had in my fob, I began to fear they had come to the knowledge of this circumstance […] .
- A short chain or ribbon to connect such a pocket to the watch.
- (see usage notes) A small ornament attached to such a chain.
- A hand-held remote control device used to lock/unlock motor cars etc.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
little pocket near waistline — see watch pocket
chain or ribbon
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ornament
remote control for locking and unlocking a vehicle
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Etymology 2 edit
Alternative forms edit
Verb edit
fob (third-person singular simple present fobs, present participle fobbing, simple past and past participle fobbed)
- (transitive, archaic) To cheat, to deceive, to trick, to take in, to impose upon someone.
- c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
- I think it is scurvy, and begin to find myself fobbed in it.
- (transitive, archaic) To beat; to maul.
Derived terms edit
- to fob off
Translations edit
To cheat, to trick
References edit
- Robert Hunter, Charles Morris, editors (1897), Universal Dictionary of the English Language, volume 2, page 2146
Etymology 3 edit
Adjective edit
fob (not comparable)
- (Incoterm) Alternative letter-case form of FOB (“free on board”)