Cobber
noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
- 1 A pal, buddy, mate, friend; often used in direct address by one male to another. Australia, dated, slang
"What's up, cobber?"
- 2 Australian term for a pal wordnet
- 3 A sweet consisting of a small block of hard caramel covered in chocolate. Australia
Example
More examples"“He′s a good cobber, even if he is the parson,” he said at last. “He′s a good cobber.” “That′s right,” said Jim patiently. “He′s a good cobber, and he′s the parson. Now you buzz off and leave him be. We′ve got business to talk here.”"
Etymology
Uncertain. Perhaps from Yiddish חבֿר (khaver, “friend, comrade”), from Hebrew חבר (ḥāḇēr, “friend”), possibly via Dutch gabber; alternately, perhaps from the British dialectal term cob (“take a liking to”), or a conflation of both. The suggestion that it is a self-referential collective term for convicts and immigrants who departed for Australian shores from the Irish port of Cobh seems chronologically unlikely.
Related phrases
More for "cobber"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.