name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   An earthmoving machine made by the J. C. Bamford (JCB) company. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK
2. 2
   any backhoe/endloader combination, or similar machinery.

   "Upon arriving at the site, they found several JCBs busily tearing down what was left of the old sheds."

Proper Noun

1. 1
   Initialism of Joint Configuration Board. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism
2. 2
   Initialism of Japan Credit Bureau. abbreviation, alt-of, initialism

Example

More examples

"Upon arriving at the site, they found several JCBs busily tearing down what was left of the old sheds."

Etymology

From the initials of the company founder, Joseph Cyril Bamford.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.